While it is easy to assume that a password reset or concurrency restrictions can solve your password-sharing problem, it is quite helpful to understand the motivations behind why password-sharing happens.

The following are the different types of Password Sharing:

Accidental password sharing - We’ve all had that Airbnb or friend's house where we logged in with the credentials but forgot to log out. Those other screens still use our passwords, but it is by accident. A password reset is simply the best way to solve this kind of password sharing. An alternative is to ask the user to manage their devices and remove devices they don’t recognise.

Situational password sharing - This is when a couple decides that the easiest way to set up their elderly mum and dad with access to the service.  They create a new profile and share credentials with them or in the case of a family that has a teenage daughter just going over to university, they allow her to dip in and use the family service. The motivation is less about not wanting to pay for the service but more about the convenience that sharing offers. These sharers and borrowers are perfectly set up to pay incremental subscription fees for the additional housing support.

Benevolent password sharing - This is where you have price-sensitive subscribers who decide that it is cheaper to take a premium package and share it among a few friends than for each of them to buy a cheaper standard package. They worked out the economics and they are quite happy to let one person pay the premium subscription fee for everybody else. When there is price sensitivity, adding a new household might not be an option. However, these subscribers would not be averse to watching a few more ads and maybe advertising is one way to get revenue for these types of consumers. So, as you can see there isn’t one size fits all and how you address the problem of password sharing is based on the motivation behind the sharing. All borrowers are not equal.