Using someone else’s Netflix password? A massive crackdown is coming in early 2023.
In a letter sent to shareholders this October, Netflix says it will officially start charging for password sharing in early 2023.
Despite the company receiving immediate backlash when it announced it was rolling out a pilot password-sharing program in March, Netflix said this week that it is going forward with its plan to “monetize account sharing” by making subscribers pay an extra fee for sharing their account with users outside of their household.
“Finally, we’ve landed on a thoughtful approach to monetize account sharing and we’ll begin rolling this out more broadly starting in early 2023.
After listening to consumer feedback, we are going to offer the ability for borrowers to transfer their Netflix profile into their own account, and for sharers to manage their devices more easily and to create sub-accounts (“extra member”), if they want to pay for family or friends.
In countries with our lower-priced ad-supported plan, we expect the profile transfer option for borrowers to be especially popular.”
Earlier this year, Netflix began experimenting with charging for password sharing in Costa Rica, Chile and Peru. The subscribers were able to add up to two more members to their accounts for an additional $2.99, 2,380 Chilean pesos, and 7.9 Peruvian sol, respectively, each per month. For now, Netflix hasn’t yet announced how much it is planning to charge for this service in other countries.
Netflix said it expects its profile-transfer option tier in early November. The streaming giant says it expects its profile-transfer option to be “especially popular” among password-sharers in the 12 countries where its new ad tier will initially be made available.