Following Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar to Introduce Measures to Curb Password Sharing

New Delhi, 28th July 2023: Walt Disney’s India streaming service ‘Hotstar’ plans to begin enforcing a policy requiring premium subscribers to login from only four devices, an effort aimed at reducing password sharing in a critical market.

According to reports, Disney’s move comes as streaming rival Netflix said in May that members in over 100 countries will have to pay more to share the service with others outside their household.

In India, a premium account of the Disney+ Hotstar streaming service permits logins on up to ten devices, despite the fact that its website currently states that the “number of devices that can be logged in” is four.

According to a source quoted by Reuters, Disney+ Hotstar has internally tested policy enforcement and aims to begin applying it later this year to limit logins for such accounts to four.

With the new restrictions, “some people will be incentivised to buy” their own memberships, according to the source.

Disney did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

According to the individual, Disney believed that not strictly enforcing the four-device login policy would entice users who could start using the service through password sharing but eventually buy their own subscriptions.

According to research firm Media Partners Asia, Disney, Netflix, Amazon, and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s JioCinema have all proven extremely popular in India, and the industry is expected to become a $7 billion market by 2027.

According to data from the same research firm, Disney’s Hotstar led India’s streaming industry with a 38% share of viewership between January 2022 and March 2023, while rivals Netflix and Prime Video had 5% apiece.