Yesterday, February 8, streaming giant Netflix announced that it’s rolling out revamped user plans that’ll reduce password sharing to more countries including Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain. The company had earlier tested this paid sharing in select markets including Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, and other parts of Latin America.
“Today, over 100 million households are sharing accounts—impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films,” Netflix said in a blog post.
With this new plan, users in these countries will be asked to set a “primary location” for their Netflix accounts. Standard plan subscribers and premium plan subscribers will be allowed one and two “subaccounts” respectively for users who don’t live in that home-base household.
Going forward, subscribers with paid sharing have a couple of choices. They can pay to add the extra member to their account which currently costs CAD$7.99/mo per person in Canada, NZD$7.99 in New Zealand, €3.99 in Portugal, and €5.99 in Spain. Otherwise, they can suggest the member get their own account and kick them off their service.
Netflix now offers a new “transfer profile” for the user getting kicked off that allows them to move their viewing history, watch list, and personal details to a new standalone account.
All users of the paid sharing service will have to log into the Netflix app on their home network (Wi-Fi) at least once every 31 days or risk having their account access blocked.
Last week, Netflix also announced the introduction of Netflix spatial audio and increased the number of download devices from four to six for Premium members.
This new move, otherwise known as Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing, will impact friends and families using a shared plan from different locations. It’ll also affect people who travel for work.
Across social media, Netflix subscribers have expressed their anger over the changes and how they would soon be forced to pay for the extra people on their accounts.
As the new plan rolls out, it’ll be interesting to see how it will be implemented in Africa where the streaming giant is still struggling to acquire new users. Netflix, which is competing with the likes of Showmax and Amazon Prime Video, will have to factor in that the African audience is price-conscious and stick to playing the long game.
