Changes are coming for Max users. The streaming service announces that it is going to implement the policy of preventing account sharing, although with certain nuances. Another price increase is also being considered that could become active next year 2025.
In the recent presentation of results carried out by Warner Bros., the company has spoken of the difficult situation in which both the market and its recent failure at the box office with the Joker sequel are placing them. The changes for Max subscribersObviously, they won’t take long to arrive. To begin with, they are not going to leave aside joining the bandwagon of streaming services that prevent password sharing so that users do not transfer accounts.
The end of shared accounts
Max mentions that, within the next few months, they will begin to send messages to users in a gentle way so that they are aware of what will happen with the account sharing system. They are not going to block everything instantly, but rather they want the change to be organic and not generate such bad reactions as has happened with other services. After that first phase, they will get more serious about the issue between 2025 and 2026. Taking into account that range of dates, it is very possible that it will last well into next year and that this way users will have plenty of time to get the idea of ​​the change that will be introduced.
In any case, as they have already mentioned, the plan is not to block the account sharing option absolutely. What they are looking for is to implement an additional extra that premium users who want to be able to share an account will pay. This is the same philosophy that Netflix or Disney+ has and that helps families share by paying less than having two accounts would mean. For Max, it will be an additional source of income to keep in mind.
Another possible price increase
Nothing is clear, but Max refers to the fact that they believe they have room to raise prices without it ending up becoming a problem for the future of the platform. They also talk about how they have verified that the last price increase made them lose fewer users than they would have imagined. And, in parallel, we must not forget that they have announced that, in the last quarter, 7.3 million additional users have subscribed.
Another possibility that Max is considering is to make a change in the ads that his advertising-supported account includes. They believe that they are placing few ads and it is possible that they make a modification to increase the amount of advertising. In any case, that, like the supposed price increase, are decisions that have not yet been definitively made. At Warner they are trying to find the best way to adjust the business so that it can have a greater role among the different divisions of the company.
After all, it is one of the ones that is providing the best results, already having more than 110 million subscribers around the world. In proportion to other businesses, it still has to improve to provide them with more income, but they see streaming as an important bet for the future. It will be one of their lifesavers at a time when their movies are not giving them much joy. As we said, Joker 2 has disappointed at the box office, while the sequel to Bitelchús has had a good performance, but it has not become the success that Barbie was in the past.
