The news that hardly anyone will be surprised is that Hulu has joined Disney+ in a Netflix-style crackdown on account sharing. If you are a subscriber, you should have received this email detailing that from March 14, 2024, if you share your account with someone who is not part of the same household, you are violating the subscriber agreement.
The agreement also defines the meaning of "family". It is "a collection of devices that are associated with your primary personal residence and intended for use by individuals residing therein." Breaking the rules can mean account restrictions or even account termination.
We already knew that was coming, as Disney's other stream** service, Disney Plus, made similar changes to its terms and conditions at the end of 2023, with Disney boss Bob Iger telling investors that the service would return in August as part of a "push monetization strategy." 。
The consensus in the industry is that it's all Netflix's fault — even though they don't explicitly state it. When Netflix announced a crackdown on account sharing, the rest of the industry watched closely. If it turns out to be a disaster, they don't make the same mistakes, and if it works well, they quickly replicate it.
So when it turns out that the crackdown not only didn't hurt Netflix, but also prompted more people to sign up for its more lucrative ad-supported service, it was only a matter of time before other big streamers followed suit.
In the same week that the news was announced, Amazon began adding ads to its previously ad-free Prime Video service and asking for an additional fee to remove them. This is in the United States, and the same change will take place in the United Kingdom next week, February 5.
It's another sign of a sea change for the best streaming services, which used to be a more attractive alternative to cable TV: lower, ad-free, easy to share. While Hulu is the latest service to crack down on sharing, it won't be the last. The market is now congested, and the industry sees account sharing as a major obstacle to growing shareholder demand.