After Netflix, it is Disney+ turn to prohibit free account sharing with large reinforcements of dissuasive measures. Like its competitor, the platform will offer a paid option, of which it has just unveiled the amount.
It was just a matter of time, but this time, that’s it: Disney ++ ends the free account sharing! Last summer, the family entertainment giant clearly expressed his wish to fight against this practice, while American subscribers had received emails in September 2023 reporting the changes to the contract for the use of his streaming platform, which includes “Restrictions on account sharing” . French subscribers had only had the right to it until last July, when they had received an email concerning there too a “Update of general subscription conditions”, As the Echo reported. Finally, the streaming platform had set up its system to add a member to the household-for finance, obviously-in September in the across the Atlantic, but European subscribers had not been entitled to it. Finally, Disney+ gave more information for our regions during a conference within the Grand Palais Immersive de Paris which took place on December 10.
Disney+ account sharing: fairly high prices
The company has therefore set up a member’s addition system to an existing account, like Netflix did – which, as a reminder, invoices each new home on account € 5.99 in France and $ 7.99 in overseas. Thus, adding an additional member to a Disney+ account will return to $ 6.99 per month for a standard account, or even $ 9.99 for a premium account. Small important clarification: it is only possible to add only one outside person per household. This system has been available since September 26 in the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
But, unlike users of these regions, French subscribers cannot still pay to add a user to their account if they wish. According to Disney declarations, it will be possible from 2025, without more precision. The large ears firm evokes a price of € 4.99 for an additional account. A unique price, which differs from the system established in the United States.
Disney+ account sharing: it’s over, as at Netflix
Long feared, the end of account sharing for Netflix subscribers was a real tremor in the world of streaming. This very appreciated practice has more than ever the wind in its sails, with the multiplication of SVODs and the significant increases in prices. The Red N strategy was risky because such a change in policy could have caused the departure of many customers.
Finally, the opposite occurred, and six million new users have finally resolved to subscribe to a new subscription between April and June 2023, much more than departures. And that is without counting the users who agreed to pay the additional € 5.99 to add an external member to the already existing households! This obviously gave ideas to some of its competitors since, almost three months after Netflix, in early August 2023, Disney+ was preparing to test in India a restriction on account sharing, as reported by the British news agency Reuters.
Thus, users wanting to access the platform and not being at their home will see a message appear, explaining to them that they are not at home and suggesting them to create their own account. Disney+ clearly indicated that the service has the means to analyze the activity of its users. And the firm does not joke, because it explains, in the French contract, that “If we determine that you have contravened this contract, we can restrict or terminate access to the service” ! Ditto for clever little ones who regularly use the platform via a web browser and who installed an advertising blocker.
The agreement also stipulates that the new rules apply to all subscribers “Unless otherwise authorized by your level of service”. As with Netflix, if unwanted subscribers decide to finally take their own subscription, their profile may be transferred. It remains to be seen whether squatters will subscribe to their own offer, as was the case for the red N, or if the users, unhappy, will desert the platform.
Disney+ account sharing: a way to bail out the boxes
The general conditions of use, or CGU, had already been modified to include a mention explaining that subscribers “will agree so as not to usurp or distort [son] Affiliation to a person or an entity, including using the username, password or other account information from another person, or the name or image of another person, or to provide false details on a parent or tutor. “
This decision is hardly surprising because the platform needs to bail out its boxes. Indeed, after having invested without counting in the production of original series and films – in particular for Star Wars and the Marvel universe -, the company with large ears must be confronted with profitability issues. And it is not the first time that she would have been eyeing the side of Netflix to find the solution. In November 2023, she launched the standard formula with pub with pub, a subscription partly funded by advertising, and increased her prices (see our article). She also raised her prices again last October …
Disney+: Advertising in all subscriptions?
Moreover, speaking of advertising. Until now, the service has offered, as with Amazon and Netflix, a first level of package with advertising. The other subscriptions were therefore exempt. However, the platform indicated in his email last July that, now “All subscriptions may include limited advertising content, promotional content, information on Disney brands, sponsorship messages and others, including advertisements in live content or special events that contain traditional advertising breaks.”
Neither one nor two, everyone thought that no subscription formula was immune to advertising during a series, a film or a documentary broadcast on the platform. The truth is fortunately less cruel. Advertising will only be invited in standard and premium formulas under very precise conditions. Thus, only live broadcasts and other special programs from traditional television broadcasting will be able to include pub cuts. Promotional content could also began on the platform’s home page, but it should in no case intervene when viewing the films and series of the catalog. It is therefore less embarrassing than what you might think – but it is all the same.
