Kinds of sharing
The first two are potential customers. The third is fraud and should be shut off.
- Casual: family and friends given the login
- Split-cost: a group that deliberately shares one subscription
- Commercial: stolen or resold credentials used by strangers
How it is detected
- More devices on an account than a household would have
- Sign-ins from distant locations within a short time
- Streams running simultaneously on different networks
- A primary location, such as a home network, that some devices never join
- Viewing patterns that look like several unrelated people
Ways to limit it
- Concurrent stream limits: the simplest and least intrusive control
- Device limits, with a cap on how often devices are swapped
- Verification by email or text when a new device signs in
- A paid extra-member option that makes sharing legitimate
- Cheaper individual or ad-supported plans, so the person borrowing has an affordable alternative
- Forced sign-out and password reset on accounts that are clearly compromised
The trade-off
Enforcement can convert sharers into subscribers, and it can also annoy legitimate users: students away from home, people who travel, families split across two addresses. Start with limits that only affect heavy sharing, give a clear way to resolve a block, and watch cancellations after any change.
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