Netflix announced: We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account with features like profiles and multiple streams. While these have been hugely popular, they’ve also created confusion about when and how you can share Netflix. Today, over 100 million households are sharing accounts – impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films.
So over the last year, we’ve been exploring different approaches to address this issue in Latin America, and we’re now ready to roll them out more broadly in the coming months, starting today in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain. Our focus has been giving members greater control over who can access their account.
Set primary location: We’ll help members set this up, ensuring that anyone who lives in their household can use their Netflix account.
Manage account accesses and devices: Members can now easily manage who has access to their account from our new Manage Access and Devices page.
Transfer profile: People using an account can now easily transfer a profile to a new account which they pay for – keeping their personalized recommendations, viewing history, My List, saved games and more.
Watch while you travel: Members can still easily watch Netflix on their personal devices or log into a new TV, like at a hotel or a holiday rental.
Buy an extra member: Members on our Standard or Premium plan in many countries (including Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain) can add an extra member sub account for up to two people they don’t live with – each with a profile, personalized recommendations, login and password – for an extra CAD$7.99 a month per person in Canada, NZD $7.99 in New Zealand, Euro 3.99 in Portugal, and Euro 5.99 in Spain.
TechCrunch reported that Netflix is rolling out paid sharing, otherwise known as Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing, to more countries, including Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain, TechCrunch reported. The company had previously tested paid sharing in select markets, including Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, and elsewhere in Latin America.
According to TechCrunch, Netflix is also offering a few details about how paid sharing will work, in hopes of quelling a subscriber backlash over the anticipated changes that have some threatening to cancel their Netflix accounts.
The news follows a leak describing password restrictions that came out earlier this month, prompting subscriber complaints. Netflix subscribers were also upset about how travel restrictions would work under the new policy.
Engadget reported that Netflix isn’t shy about its rationale. As it has argued in the past, Netflix claims account sharing is hurting its bottom line. The 100 million-plus households sharing accounts are “impacting [Netflix’s] ability” to invest in new content, according to director Chengyi Long. In theory, paid sharing improves the company’s revenue without forcing affected users to pay full price for a completely separate account.
Personally, I think Netflix designed this as a way for people to remove those who have been using the person’s paid account as a “freebie”. Or, users might see this as a good reason to cancel their Netflix account – especially if kicking out the freebee users doesn’t actually result in new Netflix shows.