Disney, Hulu Follow Netflix In Password Sharing Crackdown As Streaming Enshittification Accelerates
from the this-is-why-we-can't-have-nice-things dept
So we’ve noted more than once that as the streaming sector is saturated and new user growth slows, streaming giants will follow on a fairly predictable path that got their predecessors (cable TV companies) in trouble. Namely, shifting away from innovation and disruption and consumer welfare, and toward nickel-and-diming customers in a bid to give Wall Street improved quarterly returns at any cost.
That means a lot of pointless and harmful “growth for growth sake” mergers (see: Discovery Time Warner), endless price hikes, weird attempts to nickel-and-dime users (see: Amazon suddenly charging extra to avoid new ads), a general skimping on staff pay and customer service, and a steady enshittification of overall product quality you’ve probably already noticed.
Part of that process involves eliminating popular things that previously helped bring in new customers, like password sharing. We’ve noted how when Netflix wanted to sign up more customers, it praised password sharing, acknowledging that it didn’t really hurt the company’s bottom line, and basically acted as free advertising. Besides, Netflix already charges users extra for additional simultaneous streams.
Now that global growth is slowing, Netflix has to effectively cannibalize its own product quality and brand to appease Wall Street. It’s not good enough to just have a high quality product that makes money and people like; the need for improved quarterly returns inevitably turns disruptors into turf protectors. It’s what kicked Comcast in the teeth, and streaming execs seem poised to ignore the lessons.
Now that Netflix has normalized the attack on password sharing, companies like Hulu and Disney are following suit, sending out warnings that they’ll soon crack down on the practice. Like Netflix’s foray they don’t really explain how it will all work, or even explain why it’s necessary. Only that being harassed if your cash-strapped college kid shares your password is the new normal that you should get used to:
“As was the case with the rollout of Hulu’s new TOS, Disney says that the streamer can “analyze the use of your account to determine compliance” with the new rules but doesn’t detail specifically how it will identify anyone trying to skirt them. And while the new terms say that more information about this policy can be found on Disney’s online help center, all there seems to be right now is a pretty cut-and-dried explanation of how the company defines a “household.”
Again, there’s no real evidence to suggest that users who password share will sign up for service. Nor is there any hard evidence that Netflix’s password sharing is actually making much money (earnings can’t and don’t actually measure which new users were previously subscribed to another account). Many users lift passwords because they can’t or won’t pay. And estimates of profits here are kind of nebulous.
But if there’s any potential to squeeze out a tiny bit of additional profits from existing customers, these executives will do it. Wall Street demands it. And when annoyed users increasingly head to free alternatives or piracy after being inundated with price hikes and sagging product quality, execs will inevitably blame everything and everyone but themselves for the failure. It’s how this all works.
Filed Under: enshittification, password sharing, piracy, streaming, tv, video
Companies: disney, hulu
Comments on “Disney, Hulu Follow Netflix In Password Sharing Crackdown As Streaming Enshittification Accelerates”
So, back to torrents. ok!
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Sharing is caring, so if we couldn’t share passwords no more…
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Caring?
Disney doesn’t love you. It only wants your money.
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TBF, every company wants your money but the pursuit of ever-increasing quarterly profits will be the undoing of every service.
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I am sure this is because Wallstreet wont reward firms that have simply stable income and cost. Everything has to be hyper growth focused reguardless of ability or its a junk stock.
I gave up on streaming a long time ago, so I’m just looking forward to seeing what will happen when these services can no longer come up with schemes to keep generating extra income.
On one hand, Netflix explicitly charged me for the number of streams I had. Limiting where I was when I used those streams was pretty shit and at least Disney doesn’t explicitly charge per stream. On the other, Disney already limited simultaneous steams, and where I am shouldn’t increase costs over having the stream running in the first place, assuming I remain the the same market.
In the balance, Disney+ is rapidly encouraging me to finally set up my media library so I can dump disney+.
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Well, sure, but charging you for 4 streams when you’re using 2 is still better for Disney than charging you for just the 2 you’re using. And, really, what do “costs” have to do with it? They can use Hollywood Accounting to weasel out of royalties for anything not licensed from another company, and bandwidth is so cheap that it’s not a problem for even the “unofficial media distributors” (who, by the way, are already dumping Disney+ streams so you don’t have to).
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Gonna be honest, you talk around your point, and im not sure what insight you intended to convey, making my response here a bit wandering.
A) I hate the term Hollywood accounting specifically because so many idiots who don’t understand accounting think they know what it is. You are one of them.
B) Hollywood accounting diverts profits to the studio, and defeats profit sharing. Royalties are not a profit share. Royalty dodging is just fraud. Its not fancy hollywood accounting, its just fraud. Hollywood accounting, as bad as it is, represents a legal accounting process. Done right, they haven’t charged expenses that don’t exist nor claimed that revenue that came in did not exist. Streaming royalties aren’t profit based. Hollywood accounting isn’t impacting the royalties that caused HBO to ax shows.
C) you are ignorant of the cost concerns of streaming. We have seen from investor insights into the WWE streaming services that the bespoke streaming service for WWE had high static costs to store and deliver content. From those same insights we are told those costs were comparable to other streaming services. We can assume even with economies of scale bringing down the per TB cost of storage, when you factor in larger costs of server, frontend, and backend maintenance on top of more storage and space, similar constraints to befall every streaming service. This is before the royalties you claim they can avoid which have explicitly been cited as an issue by multiple streaming services.
C) My point was in contrast to Netflix, which explicitly charged me more to go from 2 streams to 4. Disney+ got credit for not explicitly charging me for a extra streams and than punishing me for using those streams. The section you quoted was my on the other hand. On the other hand, any justification for geographically limiting the number of simultaneous streams on top of limitations on the number of simultaneous streams comes from per stream costs defined by my geographic region and the rights holder for that region.
Are you just suggesting I go to piracy? I pay for Disney+ because maintaining a digital media library that only needs to stream within my home is not worth the hassle compared to a Disney+/Hulu bundle. But the stronger it enshittifies the more likely I am to go back to unofficial media distributors and ressurect my home library of ripped media. This was the point of my original post.
unfortunately the password sharing crackdown WORKED
As far as we know – and Netflix never reports churn – password sharing crackdown appears to have worked or at least didn’t inhibit their growth. So now Disney has gotten the message and is following suit.
People! Stop knuckling under to these stupid companies. You can cancel & churn around. None of them are worth an annual subscription. 1-2 months per year, tops!
And ignore the ad-based tiers. They are playing you for suckers, making you PAY to watch ads?!?
Why should we expect the Evil Empire to do anything consumer-friendly? I would have difficulty believing that they would pass up the chance to throw password sharers in prison, all for the crime of trying to help family members watch their favorite shows.
Innovation in stream services
It would be cheaper and quicker to be trying new things in the UI for netflix than to work our new sources of content.
There are some obvious innovations they could pickup from their competitors, but I cannot recall an single change in the last couple of years.
Why can’t I add a song to my streaming play list from a movie?
Amazon prime let you see songs and actors that are in the scene.
Why are my recommendation so static when I almost never select any of them.
Why can’t I mark certain shows/topics as being of no interest to me.
Why can’t I have a watch party on netflix?
Why can’t I share show recommendations with my friends?
Why can’t is see what’s popular with viewers with similar tastes to me?
Where is the reminder that I should complete watching a series before it leaves netflix?
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I mean, I get your point but there’s answers to a few things here…
Amazon own Amazon Music and IMDB. They have incentives that Netflix don’t have.
Because you never select them. Netflix are terrible for that sort of thing and try and push new releases/originals, but if you don’t rate anything they don’t know what you don’t like.
You can. There’s a rating where you can give one or two thumbs up or a thumbs down to any title.
It’s relatively recent I think but that’s there now – I can see several things in my watchlist and continue watching right now that tell me they’re expiring soon.
The sharing features are probably due to copyright and social aspects and browsing are often better left to third parties like Justwatch and Letterboxd, but a lot of the rest do have answers.
New Mickey Mouse March
Who’s the mascot of the firm that’s suing you and me? M-I-C, K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E!