Disney Plus begins cracking down on account sharing

Disney Plus announced that it would begin ‘crackdown on account sharing’ to improve profitability.

Disney CEO Bob Iger said in an interview with CNBC on the 4th (local time), "We plan to start crackdowns in some countries in June and expand to other countries in September."

Disney Plus' account sharing prevention was first introduced for new subscribers on January 25th, and also applied to existing members from March 14th.

During an earnings call in February, Disney CFO John Houston said, "Subscribers who are sharing inappropriately will now see a message asking them to subscribe to their own account."

Disney Plus is the second company to crack down on account sharing, following its competitor Netflix, which began charging account sharing users $7.99 per month (5,000 won per month in Korea). This move by Disney Plus, which has not been separately cracked down so far, can be seen as an attempt to improve profitability and reduce the deficit.

“We will achieve profitability by the end of the fiscal year,” Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC.

Netflix was analyzed to have benefited from last year's crackdown on account sharing. According to data analysis company Antenna, right after the crackdown on account sharing began in May last year, the number of Netflix subscription accounts increased by 100,000 in two days. Additionally, subscribers increased by more than 100% compared to the previous 60-day average.

Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr