Measures against account sharing
Netflix will soon ask millions of users to checkout
01/20/2023, 10:09 p.m
“Love means sharing a password” – that’s how the Netflix streaming service advertised account sharing five years ago. But now the company is putting an end to the popular practice. If you want to share your access, you will have to pay extra for it in the future.
The streaming service Netflix declares war on account sharing. “Later during the first quarter, we expect to begin rolling out paid sharing more broadly,” the company said in a recent quarterly report. “The widespread account sharing today is undermining our long-term ability to invest in and improve Netflix and build our business.” The terms of service actually limit viewing Netflix to one household. According to the company, more than 100 million households do not pay for the streaming service because they use accounts from other households.
The streaming service knows that this step “means a change for members who share their accounts on a broader basis”. That’s why they “worked hard” to develop additional new functions. This would allow members to check which devices are using their account and transfer a profile to a new account. In “many countries” it should also be possible to continue to supply users outside of your own household for an additional payment, it is said.
Innovations already tested in Latin America
In the course of this change, some co-users of accounts could stop watching Netflix. However, as long as you continue to offer a “great program”, they would probably come back and take out their own subscriptions, similar to Latin America. The service had carried out tests there in several countries.
A little less than six years ago, Netflix advertised account sharing. In a now-famous tweet in March 2017, the company wrote, “Love is sharing a password.” This practice will probably soon come to an unromantic end. In Germany, Netflix already offers the option of transferring a profile to an independent account. The streaming service currently offers four subscription options: A “basic” package costs EUR 7.99 per month, a “standard” account is EUR 12.99, a “premium” subscription is EUR 17.99 per month and one “Basic” variant with at 4.99 euros.