Following Netflix’s lead, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streaming service Max will start cracking down on password sharing between households at the end of this year into early next year. J.B. Perette, president and chief executive of global streaming and games at Warner Bros. Discovery, shared the news at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference, saying it offers an opportunity for revenue growth.
Perette was hesitant to compare it too much to Netflix’s actions, which he said were “implemented extremely successfully,” as Max has only been around a few years, compared to Netflix’s 17 years. “But we think, relative to the scale of our business, it’s a meaningful opportunity,” he said.
Although WBD posted a full-year streaming profit for 2023, it incurred a loss of $55 million in the fourth quarter. Perette said the goal of the crackdown is to maintain a consistent profits, but he also pointed to opportunities in increased globalization, as well as maturing content slate of shows to be released over the next 12 to 18 months.
“Unfortunately, we launched Max in the U.S. and in the eight months following, for a variety of reasons—some that we knew about, some related to the strike—we went into probably the lightest content slate we’ve ever had,” he said.
