Password Sharing Falls Slightly: Heavy TV, Streaming Viewers Are Big Users

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 6, 2024

Password sharing isn’t just for TV entertainment cheapskates. Heavy streaming users -- who pay for streaming services -- are also major consumers of "free" streaming, this according to Hub Entertainment Research.

"It’s a mistake to assume people who use another’s SVOD password do it because they are reluctant to pay for TV," writers of the report say. "When it comes to paid subscriptions, more than four in 10 of this segment pay for a hefty six or more TV services.”

It adds: “Among MVPD and vMVPD subscribers, the password sharers are also much heavier users of premium cable channels. In fact, they are heavier users of nearly all sources of TV, both paid and free, compared to those who do not share passwords."

Perhaps more interesting is that while there have been crackdowns among many streaming services -- Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Max, and Hulu+Live TV -- there have been only small decreases on a quarter-to-quarter basis.

YouTube TV, for example, dropped to 14% in the first quarter of 2024 from 16% (in Q4 2023) when the survey asked whether “you ever use someone else’ login & password” to access a premium service.

Netflix remained even at 9%. Hulu(+Live TV) dropped to 10%, from 12%. Hulu video-on-demand) dropped slightly to 11%, from 12%. Max dipped to 5%, from 6%.

Amazon Prime Video was the only platform to see an increase -- to 8%, from 7%.

The bottom line is good news here -- big fans of TV/streaming entertainment seem to love TV -- and will do all they can to consume more of it.

In the current thinking of legacy media companies, these heavy users of streaming platforms would seemingly benefit from bundling. More importantly they are still buying legacy, live TV network bundles from cable, satellite, telco and virtual operators -- helping to keep treading water for those legacy media companies counting on live, linear TV revenues for the short term.

So.. maybe it's not all that bad.