What you need to know
- Disney Plus has launched its paid sharing program in the U.S., letting subscribers add an "Extra Member" to their household account.
- Disney Plus Basic members can do so for an extra $6.99 while those with Premium can do it for $9.99.
- The company's CEO Bob Iger warned users that this would take place in September following an enforced policy change in June and a limited run in other regions.
Disney is the latest streaming service to impose a paid sharing rule on its streaming platform and has detailed what subscribers should expect.
As spotted by DeItaone on X, Disney Plus has started rolling out its paid sharing program to users in the U.S. The service detailed the plan in a blog post, stating users must "invite" a person living outside of their household onto their account to share content.
To do this, users must grab the Extra Member add-on package. This add-on is reportedly not available for Disney Bundle subscribers or those billed through a partner. Those with Disney Plus Basic can add an extra member for $6.99 while others with Premium can do it for an additional $9.99 per month.
Disney warns that accounts only have "one Extra Member slot available."
To clarify, the company states users (the primary account holder) can watch Disney Plus content while away from home. Members of the household can do so, as well. However, the platform may ask for verification if it thinks the device you're viewing Disney Plus on isn't a part of the household. If that happens, the post states users must tap "I'm away from home" or "update household."
Disney will send you a one-time passcode to submit to lift the restriction.
If you do not want the Extra Member charge, Disney recommends that users transfer an account to a new subscription if they're outside the home.
The U.S. has now joined Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe, and several more regions in the paid sharing program.
We were warned that Disney Plus would begin cracking down on password sharing earlier this year following CEO Bob Iger's comments. The platform updated its sharing policy on the platform in January 2024 and started enforcing that change in June. However, paid sharing only rolled out to a few countries or "select regions" this summer.
Iger stated that all Disney Plus subscribers would fall into the new paid sharing policy by September — so, here we are. The agreement explicitly states, "unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier, you may not share your subscription outside of your household." Of course, the only way to "share" is to tack on an Extra Member to your subscription plan.
We saw the signs last year when Disney joined the dark side after seeing the success Netflix had with the same approach. It seemed Iger was inspired by that approach, stating, "wants Disney Plus to become a growth business for Disney and that effort appears to be starting with new password-sharing initiatives."
Netflix hit the U.S. with its password-sharing crackdown last year for a similar price to what Disney Plus' basic plan is charging. One standout difference is Netflix lets users add one to two extra members to a primary (household) account while Disney graces us with one.
