Netflix to start crack down on account sharing in THESE 4 countries from today. Details here

The plan has been laid down for setting up primary location to paying a couple of dollars for an extra member. The video-streaming giant, which estimated that 100 million around the world use a shared account, said that members can now easily manage who has access to their account, transfer profile to a new account and still easily watch Netflix on their personal devices or log into a new TV.

“Today, over 100 million households are sharing accounts — impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films,” it said.

The streaming giant said that the new plans will be laid out in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain from today. Previously, it was rolled out in multiple markets in Latin America.

“We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account with features like profiles and multiple streams,” the company said in a blog post Wednesday. “While these have been hugely popular, they’ve also created confusion about when and how you can share Netflix.”

Netflix has more than 231 million paid subscribers in 190 countries. The Los Gatos, California-based company estimates that 100 million households are currently sharing their accounts with others, which impacts the company’s ability to invest in new programming.

“We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account with features like profiles and multiple streams,” the company said in a blog post Wednesday. “While these have been hugely popular, they’ve also created confusion about when and how you can share Netflix.” The company has laid down five crackdown: Set primary location, Manage account access and device, Transfer profile, Watch while you travel, Buy an extra member.

In the post, Netflix said that standard and premium subscribers in Canada, Spain, New Zealand and Portugal to set up an extra account for up to two people they don’t live with for an extra monthly fee. 

“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,” it wrote.

Netflix said it will also allow people who have been borrowing accounts to transfer their viewing history and other preferences to a new paid subscription.

The company did not say what actions it will take if subscribers continue to share accounts outside their household. In a conference call with investors in January, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said the company is trying to be thoughtful and gradual in its rollout, as reported by Associated Press.

“It’s worth noting that this will not be a universally popular move, so there will current members that are unhappy with this move. We’ll see a bit of a cancel reaction to that,” he said. “We think of this as similar to what we see when we raise prices.”

Earlier last year, it was reported that Netflix plans to curb password sharing from early 2023. It was much speculated that the password sharing feature from the company will be rolled out by the end of 2022.

The video streaming company had admitted that sharing passwords leaves an adverse impact on the business but did not take any action as of now. The report had also stated that the company might ask users who share accounts with others outside of their household to pay for the subscription.

(With inputs from agencies)