Netflix continues its US password-sharing ban. The streaming giant charges $8 to add a user for US consumers. Here's the global clampdown. The US has now seen Netflix's password-sharing crackdown. On Tuesday, the streaming behemoth revealed it would charge US members $8 to add another user to their account to discourage password sharing. Only non-household members are charged.
After its first subscriber decline in over a decade in Q1 2022, Netflix hinted at a password sharing crackdown in July. Netflix consumers worldwide disliked it. Before the ban was implemented, numerous consumers threatened to cancel their accounts.
Research shows that many customers have canceled since the policy was implemented in numerous nations. Bloomberg claimed that Netflix lost almost one million members in Spain, where password-sharing laws were introduced in early February, in the first three months of 2023, citing Kantar research. Kantar found that first-quarter subscription cancellations increased from the previous quarter.
Reaction is expected. Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters predicted "a bit of a cancel reaction" to the policy in a January earnings call. Netflix expected the decline to be brief before "borrowers" signed up for their own accounts in its first-quarter results report on April 18. The process Netflix can detect password sharing outside a home, defined as persons who live in the same place as the account owner.
The company previously said it checked account location using IP addresses and device IDs. Netflix's help center says users can buy a "extra member" to share their subscription with a non-household member. Some countries offer this feature. Paid sharing was first trialled in Costa Rica, Chile, and Peru, where adding a member cost $2 to $3.
New Zealand, Canada, Spain, and Portugal joined later. Country-specific extra member costs. Canada charges CAN$7.99 ($5.96), whereas New Zealand charges NZ$7.99 ($5.09). Spain charges 5.99 euros ($6.45), Portugal 3.99 euros ($4.30). The corporation compared Canada's response to the new regulation to its US goals.
"In Canada, which we believe is a reliable predictor for the US, our paid membership base is now larger than prior to the launch of paid sharing and revenue 4 growth has accelerated and is now growing faster than in the US," the company wrote to shareholders after its first-quarter earnings release. Netflix has tested temporary-access codes for traveling to prevent password-sharing, Insider reported.