According to a recent online poll conducted by Reuters, nearly one-fifth of the young adults watch online series like Game of Thrones by borrowing Password from their friends or relatives who do not live with them. The survey also observed that 21% of the youth who are in the age group of 18 to 24 make use of digital video services like Netflix, HBO Now or Hulu to watch online series. Almost 12% of these people have accepted that they borrow password from others to watch the online series. If this trend of password Sharing continues, then media companies are sure to lose a significant share of revenue in the future.

Loss of revenue

A Wall Street analysts said to Fortune that Netflix accepted that some of its users share their password with others. However, if this continues the network may face pressure from its investors should the number of new subscription slow down in the next quarter. Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S has projected that the revenue growth of Netflix may drop from 31% to 19% in the second quarter of this financial year.

The respondents of the Reuters poll said they borrowed the password to save the money spent on video subscriptions. Donielle Bradshaw, a live-in nanny in Georgia, stated she spends nearly 4 hours daily on weeknights and 10 hours a day on weekends watching online series. She also said to have borrowed her sister's password in the past for Hulu and her brother’s password for Netflix, adding she'd be still ready to pay if Netflix begins to crack down on password sharing.

The media company has refused to comment on the poll results.

Media companies on password sharing

Many media companies have accepted the password sharing habit, and they use it as a way of promoting their program to more potential viewers. Usually, these streaming networks limit the number of people who watch online shows at the same time using the same credentials.

Netflix, for instance, allows a maximum of two to four simultaneous streaming using a single account. They said that cracking down on password sharing is not going to convert all those users to paid users and hence closing one eye on the credential sharing. Some media companies like HBO provide their digital services free of cost to most of the colleges and universities in U.S.

Fortune reported that an analysis by Parks Associates has projected that the media companies may lose a revenue of nearly $500 million in 2019 as a result of password sharing.