Netflix has indicated that it would begin to tighten down on account sharing this quarter by implementing “paid sharing” after its earnings report on Thursday.
Subscribers will have to pay extra to continue sharing their accounts with non-family members. Last year, the business tried paid sharing services in Latin America, charging an extra $2.99 per month to enable someone outside the household to watch Netflix.
Netflix Chief Product Officer and COO Greg Peters said in Netflix earning meeting:
“I think it’s worth noting that this will not be a universally popular move. So, there will be current members that are unhappy with this move. We’ll see a bit of a cancel reaction to that,”
He added:
“We’ll stagger that a bit, you know, as we sort of work through sets of countries. But we’ll really see that happen over the next couple of quarters.”
It is unclear how Netflix will combat account sharing in other countries as subscribers become savvier about circumventing rules.
It will almost certainly cause a large number of members to cancel their subscriptions since password sharing is very common, as the company anticipated based on the results in Latin America. The company offers and attempts to perhaps reduce cancellations by providing an ad-supported tier that costs $6.99 per month.
