Netflix expands password sharing restrictions globally

The ax fell. Netflix announced on Tuesday May 23 that users in the United States, France and around 100 other countries will now have to pay extra to share their access codes to the service with people outside their household, as part of its strategy to diversify its income.

The streaming veteran has been testing this new formula for a year, and has already implemented it in Canada in particular, after a difficult year 2022. “Over 100 million households share their account, affecting our ability to invest in great movies and TV series”Netflix pointed out in February in a press release.

“Your Netflix account is for you”

Prices vary by country: US households will now have to pay nearly $8 more per month to authorize a guest to use their account. In France, it will be 6 euros monthly, as in Spain but instead of 4 euros in Portugal, two countries where the measure has already been introduced.“Your Netflix account is for you and for the people who live with you, i.e. your household”indicates an email from the platform which must be sent Tuesday to all the subscribers concerned.

The message indicates the two possible solutions for those who already share their identifiers: they can add an additional subscriber by paying the supplement, or transfer the profile of a person outside the household. This one will have to subscribe to its own subscription but will thus preserve its preferences.

This modification had been in the pipeline for over a year. In March 2022, Netflix announced tests of these restrictions in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. These tests were conclusive, according to Greg Peters, the company’s co-CEO. “In the beginning, there are cancellations. And then people who were using borrowed logins create their own accounts and add profiles, and we regain ground in terms of subscriptions and revenue”he assured at a conference with analysts in April.