Here’s How Much Money Password Sharing Costs Netflix, Disney

Plenty of people either let their adult child, ex-partner or best friend use their Netflix (NFLX) or HBO (T) account — or are the best friend or adult child using someone else’s accounts. 

Now, at least one streaming service is slowly taking steps to put a stop to it.

Netflix recently announced plans to roll out a feature in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru that will charge users a little bit extra for sharing their accounts (i.e., letting people use their passwords) with up to two people outside their household. 

The cost will be per person, 2380 CLP in Chile, $2.99 USD in Costa Rica and 7.9 PEN in Peru.

Netflix could end up earning $1.6 billion in global revenue annually by cracking down on password sharing, according to estimates by Cowen & Co. analysts, as reported by Variety. 

Though at the moment this program is only being tested in those three countries, no other streaming service has announced similar plans.

Here’s How Much Moochers Cost Disney and Netflix

It turns out password sharing is much more widespread than people may realize, according to a new study from Beyond Identity, a password-less identity platform for workforces and customers.

Beyond Identity surveyed 1,000 Americans to get the honest truth about who is mooching off of someone’s paid streaming account, and crunched the numbers to see how much it’s all costing customers.

According to the study, Americans pay an average of $56 per month on streaming services, while streaming services lose $672 per account moocher each year.

Here’s How Many Moochers Disney and Netflix Have

 The practice of sharing accounts is so widespread that even if you personally don't give out your password or use someone's, you almost certainly have a friend who does. 

Beyond Identity's findings are a striking indicator at just how many people are mooching rather than paying. 

Here’s some of the takeaways:

• Four out of five Americans have had a moocher on one of their streaming accounts.

• Disney+ (DIS) has the highest moocher to subscriber ratio, with eight moochers for every three subscribers.

• Netflix, Amazon Prime Video (AMZN) and HBO Max all have a moocher-to-subscriber ratio of two to one.

• Netflix is the biggest streaming service, and it’s also more likely than any other streaming service to be shared, as 84% of people admit to passing along their Netflix password.

• From there, 57% of Hulu customers share their account, as do 52% of Disney customers, 51% of Amazon Prime Home Video subscribers and 46% of HBO Max users.

• Only 64% of Americans say they pay for their account and no one else has access to it.

• 55% of Americans use a service they don’t pay for.

• 38% of Americans pay for a subscription and give other people access.

• 14% of Americans split the cost of a subscription with another user.

What Do These Numbers Mean?

Using the moochers to subscriber's ratio, here's how man people are using some of the most popular services without paying for them. 

All of the subscriber numbers listed here are from the end of 2021.

• Netflix has 221.8 subscribers, so with a moocher to subscribers ratio of two to one, that's 443.6 million moochers.

• Disney has a ratio of eight moochers for every three subscribers. With 118.1 million subscribers, that would be approximately 314.6 million moochers.

• HBO Max has 73.8 million subscribers, so that's 147.6 million moochers.

• Amazon Prime Video says it streaming service has 200 million subscribers, so that would be 400 moochers.