Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is tightening its password-sharing policy for its streaming service, Max. In a move that echoes Netflix’s recent steps, WBD plans to crack down on users who are using someone else’s account without paying, starting with the U.S. market and expanding over the next 12 to 18 months.
Last month, WBD introduced the “Extra Member Add-On” for U.S. users. This feature allows a main account holder to share their Max subscription with one person outside their household for $7.99 a month. The invited user gets their own login and adult profile, but the subscription remains tied to the original account. Currently, this feature is available only to subscribers who pay directly through Max, excluding those who signed up via bundles or third-party services.
JB Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games at Warner Bros. Discovery, said the rollout will happen gradually, but the company expects it to result in a noticeable increase in both subscribers and average revenue per user (ARPU).
JB Perrette, CEO and President, Warner Bros. Discovery, said, “It will start getting firmer and more visible to subscribers over the months to come. The messaging [to users] is part of the parallel path of the password-sharing initiatives that we have.”
The strategy starts with “soft messaging,” which means gentle reminders to users about account usage. As the company moves into late 2025 and early 2026, the warnings will become “more assertive,” said Perrette. He did not give exact figures for how much WBD expects to earn from this shift, but said the company is confident it will be a positive driver of revenue, similar to how Netflix benefited from its own crackdown.
Max now has 122.3 million global subscribers after adding 5.3 million new users in the first quarter of 2025. The company aims to reach 150 million subscribers worldwide by the end of 2026.
According to WBD’s terms of service in North America, Max accounts are meant for the primary account holder and people living in the same household. Users found violating this rule may have their account access modified or restricted.
“We can modify access or disable features, including for security reasons, to limit the impact of account sharing outside of your household or where we have concluded in our discretion that there has been misuse of your Max Account,” the company states in its policy.
The platform uses a mix of profile details, network data, device IDs, and user activity to determine whether someone is sharing their account outside their home.
On its help page, Max clearly explains that accounts are meant for people living in the same household. For those who want to share with someone living elsewhere, the Extra Member Add-On is currently the only legal way to do so.
Additionally, When a user invites an extra member, the selected profile’s watch history, personalized recommendations, and settings are moved to the new standalone account. Only one Extra Member Add-On is allowed per main account. This move comes as streaming platforms worldwide look for new ways to increase revenue and limit account misuse. With Max now available in over 85 global markets and expanding into the UK and Germany in 2026, WBD is aligning its strategy to create more value from its existing customer base.
JB Perrette, CEO and President, Warner Bros. Discovery, said, “We launched [Extra Member Add-On] only in the U.S. It’s only available on our retail subscriber base, which obviously is a subset of our total sub base.”
Furthermore, For now, the new feature gives Max users a legitimate way to share their subscription for a price. Whether this change will encourage freeloaders to convert into paying users remains to be seen, but Warner Bros. Discovery is betting it will.