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During the peak of its notable decline, Netflix implemented one of its most hated changes, the password-sharing crackdown. Many viewed this as the nail in the coffin for Netflix, but it proved successful. Now, after Disney+ has followed suit, Hulu is going to bring its own password-sharing crackdown.
Other streaming services and the internet at large pretty much laughed at Netflix when it started cracking down on password-sharing. However, when Netflix officially brought down the hammer, it actually proved successful in bringing more users to the platform. Once this happened, our cynical brains assumed that other companies would blindly follow suit and bring their own password-sharing restrictions.
Well, our cynical brains were not wrong; Disney+ also restricts password-sharing. This is a major blow, as the company saw a price hike that boosted the ad-free subscription to $10.99\month.
Now, Hulu is going to bring its own password-sharing crackdown
This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, as Disney owns Hulu. So, with Disney+ restricting password-sharing, we all knew that Hulu was not far behind. News of Hulu’s password-sharing crackdown came right from the company’s mouth.
Several Hulu users have reported seeing a new email from the company letting them know that password-sharing will no longer be tolerated. A user on Reddit posted a screenshot of the email the company sent. Just like with Netflix, only people within the same household are allowed to use the same password. So, if you set up an account, and give your friend who lives across town your password, Hulu will be very upset.
In the email, Hulu referenced a new addition to its terms of service. If you read through the terms of service, and you are unfamiliar with this, it’s because Hulu very recently changed its subscriber agreement. So, as the email reads, Hulu will “analyze the use of your account” to see if you’re sharing your password across different houses. Then, as you can imagine, the app will then limit or terminate your access to the service. We’re not sure what the company is going to do exactly. It’s possible that the secondary home will lose access to Hulu with no consequences to the account holder. However, that remains to be seen.
People will be upset
While Netflix’s password crackdown led to more sign-ups, that’s not to say that people are happy about it. At this point, there’s no telling if bringing a password crackdown will for sure increase Hulu’s subscriber count. Netflix is only one example.
We have to think about the bigger picture. Sure, it worked for Netflix, but as more streaming services adopt a password-sharing policy, more people are going to get tired of it. We have no idea how long people are going to tolerate it before they start to give up on streaming altogether. So, there’s no way of telling if this will work out for Hulu or not. Prices have been on the rise for so long, and they can only go so high before people unsubscribe en masse.
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