Disney Plus is taking action against shared accounts

118.3 million households have recently signed up for the Disney+ streaming service. In fact, the number of people watching its movies and TV shows is far greater than the number of customers. Things are getting serious for free riders who are using shared passwords starting in September. Since then, Disney wants to take a broad crackdown on sharing login data outside of a single household.

The first steps have been underway since June, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced. Disney hopes more people will get their own subscriptions if they can no longer sign in with family or friends’ accounts. For its competitor Netflix, where this has long been a common practice, this has worked.

After heavy losses: profit flow

Disney posted its first black-tie figures in its streaming business in the last quarter after years of losses. The Disney Plus division made an operating profit of about €43 million. A year earlier, the division lost more than half a billion dollars.

The American media company and other Hollywood studios have been in an expensive race to catch up with Netflix for years. One reason is the decline of the cable TV business in the United States, which was a reliable source of money.

In order to stem streaming losses, CEO Bob Iger recently reined in costs at Disney+. That includes slightly fewer series and movies from the “Star Wars” and Marvel universes produced by Walt Disney Co.

In entertainment as a whole, operating profit was $1.2 billion, three times higher than in the same quarter last year. The record-breaking success of the animated film “Inside Out 2,” which has grossed $1.56 billion so far, also contributed. The Olympics are having a negative impact on business, particularly at Disneyland Paris.