The largest paid streaming service in the business has decided that its 221 million subscriber accounts are not enough. On March 16, Netflix announced they’ll be cracking down on password sharing by testing measures that would charge accounts extra for allowing users to stream outside of a given household. The plan will be tried out in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, beginning in the next few weeks.
“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.”
Chengyi Long. Director, Product Innovation.
To Add an Extra Member: Members on the Standard and Premium plans will be able to add sub-accounts for up to two people they don’t live with – each with their own profile, personalized recommendations, login and password – at 2,380 CLP in Chile, 2.99 USD in Costa Rica, and 7.9 PEN in Peru
To Transfer Profile to a New Account: Subscribers on the Basic, Standard, and Premium plans can 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 co-CEO Reed Hastings last year said the company would test various approaches, but would not roll out anything that seems to “turn the screws” on customers. Netflix says they will be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before considering a wider rollout of the fees elsewhere in the world.
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