The good news is that you can continue to share your Netflix (NFLX) password. The bad is that it will cost you. Quite a bit, in fact.
Netflix has announced the details of its password sharing-crackdown plan, which has long been in the works, and was introduced last year in countries such as Canada, New Zealand and Portugal.
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Now, the crackdown is coming to the United States, as users who share a password “outside their household” have received an email about the company’s updated policies. If you have the $15.49 per month Netflix Standard plan, you can add one extra member who can use the service outside your household for an extra $7.99 each month.
The Netflix Premium package with 4K streaming, which costs $19.99 a month, can add up to two extra members for $7.99 each. Netflix users on the cheapest plans, Basic for $9.99 or Standard with Ads for $6.99 per month, do not have the options to add users.
The move to crack down on password sharing, as well as introducing advertising on its platform after executives spent years declaring that would never happen, is widely seen as a way for the company to boost revenue in the wake of its disastrous performance last year -- the first time the once seemingly dominant Netflix saw a loss in subscriber numbers -- and a big stock drop.
On its support page, Netflix describes “extra members” as a user who will have their own password and profile, paid for by the person who “invited” them to join. The extra member accounts have to be activated in the same country, they can only view or download content on one device at a time. They also can’t create extra profiles or log in as a Kids profile.
It is unclear if people currently using someone else’s password will have their account suspended, or if the person paying for the account will receive an extra charge.
But the password crackdown has already been met with resistance. In the first quarter of 2023, according to market research group Kantar, Netflix lost 1 million users in Spain, “reflecting the effects of the company's crackdown on password-sharing.” This is triple the normal amount of churn rate (industry speak for who cancel their subscriptions).
How Does Netflix Determine Your Household Location?
Netflix determines your household location by where you watch Netflix on a TV and what IP address that device uses. So it is unclear if this will affect, say, users who want to watch Netflix on their laptops when they travel.
The company has noted that “We do not collect GPS data to try to determine the precise physical location of your devices,” and “If a Netflix Household hasn’t been set, we will automatically set one for you based on IP address, device IDs, and account activity.”
