- HBO MAX confirmed “aggressive” plans to tackle password division after Netflix’s footsteps
- The HBO MAX PROSSWORD Sharing Crackdown begins to be enforced more strictly in September 2025
- Subscribers are already complaining about the change on their accounts
Head of streaming and games in Warner Bros. Discovery JB Perrette confirmed by the company’s earnings in the 2nd quarter that HBO Max will begin an “aggressive” breakdown on password sharing from September 2025.
It is a step that follows in the footsteps of rival streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+, which marks a 180-turn from previous marketing campaigns that encourage users to share their account information (we remember all of these Netflix ads). The idea is to close existing loopholes and create profits, although the benefits of making it not expected to be seen before 2026.
As it says, HBO Max is arguably one of the best streaming services on the market. It hosts original content including The last of usAt The white lotusAt Euphoria and PeacemakerWith a quality group of classic movies and TV shows added the platform every month.
In a world where streamers become more expensive and inaccessible to groups of people (for example, if you are a family in the same home, it makes sense to share an account, but HBO Max does not offer a family subscription level), the decision to make password sharing is more difficult that already does not go down well with its subscribers.
Early X/Twitter comments from users show that subscribers are already complaining. One user said “It’s a way of losing subscriptions quickly,” with another addition, “back in the early Netflix days we shared all passwords like Pokémon card. Now they want a DNA test before I can see Euphoria?? “
Others have noticed how close the message is to pulling all the cartoon network content from the platform (don’t worry, you can still find much of this at Hulu in the US while in Australia they can find the network’s shows on Stan). It feels like HBO Max is jumping on bad news after bad news, but let’s dive deeper into the methods behind their madness.
Opinion: HBO MAXS ‘Aggressive’ password outbreaks are not exactly the news I would hear
Look at
Pette explained during the call that months of testing have gone into “Who is a legitimate user who may not be a legitimate user,” added that the next step is to “turn on the more aggressive language about what is going to happen” so they “put the net in the right place, so to speak.” Later in 2025, the crash will happen “in a much more aggressive way”, which adds the “mess message language right now has been a rather soft, cancellation-standard message, [which will] Begin to become more firm and such that people have to intervene in contrast to right now, kind of having to be a voluntary process. “
After all this is established “the real advantage is likely to start in the fourth quarter and then kick into 2026”. But as WBD claims to have added 3.4 million streaming subscribers to its platforms in the last quarter, can we really expect them to hit their new total target of 150 million subscribers in 2026 if measures are introduced like this? The fact that I now have to jump through multiple hangers just to stream the content I want is incredible offputing and I would not be surprised if more people turn to free streaming alternatives, or I dare say that, cable -TV.
However, it is not something that HBO Max himself is concerned about, with the eyes of the price of a hefty theater slate who leads our way for the next few years. As WBD CEO David M. Zaslav explained on the call: “One of the assets we have at this company is that we have such – so much convincing storytelling that people know all over the world if it is BatmanAt SupermanAt Wonder WomanAt Lord of the Rings. And then we call them the big tent bars, Harry Potter. And then are smaller tent bars like That refugeeAt GOONESAt GremlinsAt Practical magic that everyone knows.
“Our strategy is [to] Light strategically up the large tent bars, so we have two or three of them a year, giving real stability. We got a good script on Lord of the Rings With Peter Jackson, as we already are – that we move on and we give you more details about it. “
