The market for online streaming services has experienced significant growth, with platforms like Netflix and Disney+ introducing policies to regulate password sharing. While conventional wisdom suggests that increasing sharing capacity could reduce subscribers, we show that the opposite may occur under specific social network structures, leading to a “sharing paradox”. By modelling password sharing as a constrained public goods game, we identify network conditions, particularly in core-periphery structures, where an increase in the sharing capacity can increase the number of subscriptions sold in equilibrium. Laboratory experiments reveal that the sharing paradox emerges when reciprocity mechanisms, such as monetary transfers, are present, though coordination failures often hinder its full realisation. These findings highlight the interplay between network dynamics and consumer behaviour in subscription-based markets