When will Netflix start paid password-sharing plans in the US?
Netflix does not allow password sharing outside of a household there are different plans with limits on the number of screens that can stream simultaneously.
Netflix has had a tumutluous six months. Bruised by the first ever drop in subscriber numbers, the company has been scrabbling for ways to increase revenue in an increasingly competitive market.
One of these plans was to introduce a cheaper subscription which includes advertising. Another was a crackdown on users sharing accounts, despite old Netflix promotion lauding the practice.
Love is sharing a password.
— Netflix (@netflix) March 10, 2017
It was announced inside the streaming site’s first quarter (Q1) earnings report that the rollout of a paid passport-sharing plan would happen in Q2.
“In Q1, we launched paid sharing in four countries and are pleased with the results,” Netflix said in its Q1 letter to shareholders. “We are planning on a broad rollout, including in the US, in Q2.”
Q2 refers to the period of April, May, and June.
Estimates from the company itself point to more than 100 million accounts that would be in violation of its rules of sharing outside a household.
“A Netflix account is meant to be shared in one household (people who live in the same location with the account owner),” the company says on the customer-help section of its site. “People who are not in your household will need to sign up for their own account to watch Netflix.”
You can't help but laugh at Netflix continuing to kick this password sharing can down the road like "hey this is your last warning I really mean it this time you gotta stop doing this or I'm really gonna think about some serious consequences here we go I'm gonna start counting"
— Russell Holly (@russellholly) April 19, 2023
Outside of the US, the passport-sharing plan has already been implemented in Canada, New New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain in February as well as trials in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru.
How the CEO describes the passport-sharing crackdown
Co-CEO Greg Peters explained to investors that there would be an initial hit in the number of subscribers as people react to the move.
“As with Latin America, we see a cancel reaction in each market when we announce [passport sharing payments], which impacts near-term member growth,” the company said. “But as borrowers start to activate their own accounts and existing members add ‘extra member’ accounts, we see increased acquisition and revenue.”