Netflix is expanding its plan to crack down on password sharing to the U.S. and the U.K. This means that viewers who shared their account password with people outside of their household might not have access to Netflix unless the account holder pays an extra fee.
We have talked about Netflix ending password sharing for the past few months and the reasons they are doing so. The main reason Netflix is doing this is to find new ways to gain more streamers to profit heavily. With a previously estimated that more than 100 million households worldwide sharing an account, there are a lot of possible subscribers to gain.
If you’re already the best, then how do you get better? Simple: crack down on those lenient policies.
After testing the new sharing restrictions in Canada, New Zealand, Spain, and Portugal since the beginning of the year, the streamer was more than happy with the results. For example, paid sharing in Canada increased the number of subscribers for Netflix, which helped the company gain more revenue.
With the hopes that these results continue to repeat themselves across different countries, Netflix is ready to expand its password crackdown in the U.S. and elsewhere to help its bottom line. Here is what you need to know.
'Queen Charlotte'Credit: Netflix
What You Need to Know About Netflix’s Password Crackdown
Netflix explained on its U.S. and U.K. websites that account holders on the Netflix Standard plan will have the choice to add a person outside of their household, but they will have to pay an extra $7.99 a month (or£4.99 in the UK). Account holders that have the Netflix Premium with a 4K deal can add two extra members, but they will still cost $7.99 each.
Basic and Standard account holders do not have any option to add out-of-household members at all.
Extra members will have their own account and password (they are insanely serious about eliminating password sharing), but their membership is paid for by the account holder who invited them to share the Netflix account.
If the account holder doesn’t want to pay to add you to their account–or you really don’t like the idea of using Venmo once a month–then the new “transfer profile” feature allows extra users to make accounts they pay for.
For those of you that travel for work, don’t worry about being kicked from your Netflix account when you’re away from home. Travelers can still access their accounts, but the streaming giant said that it has begun sending emails about the “paid sharing” plan to out-of-household users on Tuesday to explain what their options are.
So when do you have to consider getting a new Netflix account?
No official dates have been announced, but expect the day to be coming soon.
Let us know if you are keeping or deleting Netflix from your life in the comments!
Source: Netflix
