Netflix Testing Ways to Make Password Sharing no Longer Free

On March 16th Netflix announced on their website plans to eventually have people pay extra for sharing their account with multiple members of the household. Netflix has been working on figuring out ways to implement this for the past year and they now feel ready to test it out in three different countries, before bringing it to other countries.

Within the next two weeks, Netflix will launch and test two new features for subscribers from Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru.

For the “Add an Extra Member” feature, subscribers on the Standard and Premium plans will have to pay extra to add an account for up to two people they do not live with. Each additional member on that account will have their own personalized recommendations, login, and password. The extra price will be 2,380 CLP in Chile, 2.99 USD in Costa Rica. and 7.9 PEN in Peru.

For the “Transfer Profile to a New Account” feature, subscribers on the Basic, Standard, and Premium plans will “enable people who share their account to transfer profile information either to a new account or an Extra Member sub account – keeping the viewing history, My List, and personalized recommendations.”

Netflix also states:

“We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans. While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households – impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members.

We recognize that people have many entertainment choices, so we want to ensure any new features are flexible and useful for members, whose subscriptions fund all our great TV and films. We’ll be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world.”

Netflix’s stock dropped down 41% this year, so it’s not really surprising to see them taking this kind of step to figure out other ways to charge customers.

Reactions to this news has not been well received. Many took to Twitter to voice their thoughts. Netflix subscribers are threatening to cancel their subscription if Netflix follows through with this plan.

I currently pay over $20 for #Netflix @netflix and I share that account with my mom, who doesn't live with us. If I am asked to pay extra for her, at an already inflated price of $20 compared to @hbomax @disneyplus @hulu and other competitors – I will be canceling my sub.

— Nightshadow (@baphometsangel) March 17, 2022

.@netflix The thing I hate about this is that it doesn’t take into account families with college age kids. I pay extra for more screens. Why should we all have to be in the same house? I have to force poor college kids to get their own account?! #netflix

— Matthew Davisson (@TheMdRuckus) March 16, 2022

@netflix if you start charging for watching outside my physical household I’m canceling my subscription…why pay extra for my sister to watch tv at college or my fiancé to watch tv on break at work when I pay for multiple devices already? #Netflix

— MacKenzie (@mk_almnd_prblms) March 17, 2022

Netflix will lose a lot of customers if they do this password sharing crackdown they plan to do. Charging extra and crap. Especially when they don’t carry a lot of good content anymore like some of the other streaming apps #netflix

— makhallie_shea (@makhallie_shea) March 17, 2022

What do you think about this plan Netflix is working towards? If you have a Netflix subscription, do you think you will cancel?

Source: NPR, CNN Business, Netflix