Netflix has become even more of a household staple than cable, with millions migrating to streaming services over traditional TV programming.
A common trend among those with Netflix accounts is sharing them with others, giving out your password so more people can get in on the subscription and watch what they’d like. That era may be coming to an end as the company announced it will begin charging for account sharing starting next year.
Let’s start this off by being honest for a moment.
Raise your hand if you’ve shared your Netflix account with someone. Now raise your hand if you use an account someone shared with you.
If your hand is still down, you’re likely in the minority.
Those who did raise their hands, beware.
Netflix has officially announced that they will be cracking down on account sharing by adding an ‘extra user fee’ to account owners who have shared their password, meaning a lot of people are about to owe some extra dough.
How are they tracking it, though?
Thanks to a pilot program rolled out in Latin America earlier this year, Netflix found the best approach to realizing when an account is being shared and options to include so this happens less.
They can track if your account is being used in another household.
If the account belongs to you, but you give your password to a friend in the next town over, Netflix can tell which household is watching what programs, and to what extent the account is being shared.
So, they’re enacting a fee.
“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,” they announced in their latest report.
No word on how much the fee will cost, though if it’s similar to the pilot, it will be about a quarter of the basic rate, potentially per person who’s using your account elsewhere.
So what, will everyone have to finally get their own account?
Maybe. If you’re pinged for using someone else’s account, you will be given the option to transfer your profile and make it your own, independent Netflix account, meaning you’ll keep your history and recommendations without having to start all over.
Can you stay attached to the host account anyway?
If that host wants to pay for your account, then yes! The option to opt into the fee and pay for an account for family or friends who don’t live with you will also be available.
Don’t worry though, there’s still some time.
This initiative won’t be rolled out until early 2023, so there’s still a few months left where you can break the news to your friends that they need to buy their own accounts.
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This comes soon after Netflix announced a new type of subscription.
There’s now a lower-cost plan that comes with ads, something they believe will be useful when all these shared accounts are forced to split up.
“In countries with our lower-priced ad-supported plan, we expect the profile transfer option for borrowers to be especially popular.”
h/t: UNILAD
