Disney‘s initial efforts to limit password sharing are “working out well for us in terms of subscriber growth,” Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said.
Speaking at the UBS Media and Communications Conference, the exec said the policy, phased in during recent months would show up as a boost to the company’s financials “a little bit at the beginning.” From there, he added, “each quarter should be incrementally stronger.”
The dual financial engines of password sharing and advertising are going to be key drivers for the now-profitable streaming operation, Johnston said. The media giant will “clearly” also look for more opportunities to increase prices.
Disney last September laid out details of its password plan in a blog post, which announced that the new setup had launched in the U.S., Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. That rollout followed a debut in select markets last summer.
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Account users trying to access an account from outside of the main account holder’s residence “will need to sign up and pay for their own subscription or be added as an Extra Member to the main account,” the blog post said. The price for that is an additional $6.99 a month for Disney+ Basic and $9.99 a month for Premium.
Netflix was the first mover on paid password sharing, implementing a new policy globally in 2023 and citing it as a plus in its financial reporting. Warner Bros. Discovery has since articulated a plan to do something similar with Max.
Making money from advertising on Disney+ “is going to be a big one for us,” Johnson said. “Relative to our streaming competitors, we’ve got an awful lot of experience with ad monetization.”