There’s also the data that can be harvested from freeloaders. Imagine the would-be addict as a college sophomore, who hasn’t quite cut the cord with mom and dad’s membership. Once he has a job, it could be easier to figure out how to get him to subscribe if the company already knows what he likes to watch.

“They are holding on to their data in order to use that in the future,” says Glenn Hower, author of the Parks Associates report.

He says about 20 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds who stream video don’t pay for it. But they shouldn’t get too used to a world where big media companies look the other way.

From the article "Password sharing's open secret" by Mark Garrison.

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