Hulu will crack down on password sharing, mimicking moves made by its streaming rivals — and prompting angry customers to vow to get their content from piracy websites.
Hulu posted a revision of its terms of service Wednesday, informing users that it was banning password sharing outside of “your primary personal residence.”
Subscribers have until March 14 to comply with the new edict, according to the revised subscription terms.
“We’re adding limitations on sharing your account outside of your household, and explaining how we may assess your compliance with these limitations,” Hulu told subscribers in an email.
Hulu, which is owned by Disney, told customers that it will “analyze the use of your account” and that it reserves the right to “limit or terminate access” if it is determined that there was a policy violation.
The Post has sought comment from Hulu.
Some Hulu users took to social media and vowed to turn to piracy to get their content for free.
“I’m canceling Hulu and prob Netflix too. smh. Enough is enough,” one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote: “The inconvenience plague begins. Piracy is about to explode in popularity again.”
Hulu hopes the crackdown will yield the same results it did for Netflix, which reported a surge in the number of subscribers after it instituted its own ban on password sharing last year.
Media giants have boosted subscription prices for their streaming services as increasingly fragmented audiences are resulting in a dip in viewership.
Ad-free Hulu now costs $17.99 per month — up $3 while ad-free Disney+ now costs $13.99 per month.
Disney also jacked up the price of its ESPN+ monthly plan by $1 to $10.99.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that customer cancellations across streaming services rose 6.3% in November — up from 5.1% a year earlier.
Netflix rolled out cheaper, ad-supported tiers which helped the company add nearly 6 million subscribers in the spring of last year.
Last week, Netflix reported its third-consecutive quarter of accelerating subscriber growth in the final three months of 2023.
Netflix added 13.1 million worldwide subscribers during the October-December period, well above analyst projections.
The rising tide of customers left Netflix with more than 260 million global subscribers at the end of 2023 — an annual increase of nearly 30 million subscribers.
Last year’s performance was a stark contrast to 2022’s increase of 8.9 million subscribers — a lackluster showing that raised questions whether the video-streaming pioneer was losing steam amid stiffening competition for viewers.
Disney Plus started cracking down on password sharing in late December.
It is unclear what kind of impact it has had on subscription figures.
With Post Wires
