Senior Data Analyst

Disney+ has reportedly begun taking steps to prevent password sharing among its U.S. subscribers. The streaming service began sending out emails on Wednesday (Feb. 7) notifying subscribers about its updated terms of service, which include restrictions on sharing account credentials outside of the subscriber’s household, the Verge reported Wednesday. The Walt Disney Company did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment

Americans are increasingly cutting back on their streaming subscriptions.Streaming service cancellations increased to 6.3% in November, compared to 5.1% the year before, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday (Jan. 2).And roughly a quarter of U.S. subscribers to major services like Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ have canceled at least three of them in the last two years, the report said, citing data from subscription-analytics provider Antenna.That’s up from 15% two years ago, which WSJ said is a sign of an increasingly fickle attitude among steaming subscribers.The report includes comments from consumers like Crystal Revis, a Florida resident who recently canceled her Disney+ and Paramount+ memberships due to rising costs.“With the streaming services increasing their rates like they are, it’s, like, ‘OK, do I pay for the cable?’” Revis told WSJ.“Retention doesn’t just mean holding on to a new subscriber the first time they get them. It’s about managing a relationship over a true customer lifetime,” said Jonathan Carson, co-founder and CEO of Antenna.He added that streamers will need to become more sophisticated when it comes to winning back subscribers by doing things like targeting their marketing to customers who tend to watch at certain times of year.Against this backdrop, streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime have been embracing ads, as PYMNTS wrote last week.“Netflix, for instance, launched its ad-supported tier last year, though the tier’s underperformance earlier this year caused the platform to expand, seek more or different ad partners, adjust prices and innovate placements,” that report said.“Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max streaming subscription has seen its shift to ad-supported models helps drive revenue increases.”More recently, Amazon announced that it would begin including ads in Prime movies and TV shows beginning in late January, letting users pay an extra $2.99 per month to watch without commercial breaks.And streaming services have been looking for other ways to monetize their content beyond subscription fees and ad sales.For example, Disney+ is apparently exploring adding shopping options to its streaming service, while Amazon has begun offering recommendations of other products and services through its Prime Video X-Ray feature

Paramount (PARA) said streaming subscribers will see even more price increases moving forward — a trend that's permeated throughout the entire media industry."We see a very compelling pricing opportunity longer term, which is to say this won't be the last price increase that we do," CFO Naveen Chopra said on the company's third quarter earnings call on Thursday."We think there is a continued opportunity for pricing to play a role in growing both revenue and earnings in our streaming business," he added.In June, Paramount launched its ad-free Paramount+ with Showtime streaming offering for $11.99 a month — $2 more than the previous price for a Paramount+ subscription. It also raised the prices of its ad-supported tier by $1 to $5.99.Paramount+ added 2.7 million subscribers in the third quarter, beating expectations of a 1.8 million increase. In total, Paramount+ has reached more than 63 million subscribers.Subscription revenue also grew 46% in the quarter to reach $1.3 billion, driven by subscriber growth and pricing increases for Paramount+, coupled with revenue from pay-per-view events. Overall direct-to-consumer revenue totaled $1.69 billion in the quarter, compared to the expected $1.64 billion."Paramount+ is still positioned at a very compelling price point, and that's true both on our ad-supported tier and our ad-free tiers," Chopra said."Relative to competitors, Paramount+ is still positioned at a very compelling price point," the executive said, adding that the June price increases "actually performed better than we expected" with the impact on churn, or consumers cancelling the service, coming in less than expected."The price increase is actually more accretive to earnings than we originally anticipated, so that gives us some confidence," he said, doubling down on the streamer's value proposition with sports, films, franchises, and kids' content at the cornerstone of its pipeline.Story continues"The data we've seen coming out of our first price increase suggests that, that value proposition and the stickiness of the content does give us additional room for growing price over time," he said.Paramount reported a direct-to-consumer (DTC) loss of $238 million, narrower than analysts' expectations of $438 million and the $343 million loss seen in the year-earlier period.The company now forecasts full-year direct-to-consumer losses in 2023 will be lower than in 2022, with anticipated fourth quarter DTC losses similar to the year-ago period.The Paramount+ logo is seen inside the convention center during San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, Calif., on July 22, 2023. (Photo by Chris Delmas / AFP) (Photo by CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images) (CHRIS DELMAS via Getty Images)Streaming prices have ballooned across the board as profitability becomes top of mind for media companies — and even tech giants like Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOGL).Last week, Apple became the latest platform to raise prices after announcing the monthly cost of streaming service Apple TV+ will go up by $3 to $9.99 for new subscribers. Netflix (NFLX), Disney (DIS), and Hulu also raised streaming prices last month.Added up, the cost of these services now rival the dreaded cable TV bundle of years past — the very thing that streaming set out to undo.Consumers are taking notice with subscribers canceling more of their plans to combat rising costs