netflix launched his crackdown on password sharingrolling out new fees in four countries – Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain – that charge accounts to share their membership outside of a household.
And the price is higher than in the first tests.
The company, the world’s largest subscription streaming service, has been promising investors for months that it will roll out the initiative widely. But it comes after years of being lax on password sharing, with Netflix once tweeting “love is sharing a password” and founder Reed Hastings explaining in 2016 that he love when people share netflix.
But last year Netflix began testing ways to “monetize account sharing” after it suffered its biggest subscriber losses in a decade. With over 230 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix estimates that over 100 million accounts are shared.
On Wednesday, Netflix said it had launch of “additional member” sub-account fees in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain, effective the same day. Inspired by a scheme Netflix tested in a few Latin American countries since last year, the fee asks subscribers whose subscription is used beyond a “primary location” to pay extra for one or two sub-accounts. (Click here for more details on Netflix account sharing policies.)
Additional member fees are C$8 per month in Canada, NZ$8 in New Zealand, 4 euros in Portugal and 6 euros in Spain. Netflix did not specify a timeline for when other countries, such as the United States, would roll out the fees.
However, this is significantly more expensive than the fee prices in Latin American countries where account sharing was already in effect.
In Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, where these fees were first tested, the average fee for an additional member subaccount averaged around 25% of the cost of a Standard plan in each country. But in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain – the first wave of countries for Netflix’s official account sharing launch – prices for additional members are significantly higher, sometimes twice as much as measured as a percentage of the local standard account price.
On average, Netflix set the fee for additional members in the latest countries at 43% of the price of a Standard plan compared to 25% in the tests.
And in Canada, which is the market most closely tied to the United States, the fees are the highest: each additional member costs nearly half the cost of a Standard plan there.
The move comes as intensifying competition has begun to dampen Netflix’s once-relentless growth. Over the past three and a half years, nearly every major Hollywood media company has poured billions into their own streaming operations. These so-called streaming wars have sparked a wave of new services, including Disney Plus, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount Plus, and Apple TV Plus. This flood of streaming options has complicated the number of services you have to use (and, often, pay for) to watch your favorite shows and movies online.
Password crackdowns aren’t Netflix’s only about-face lately. It has also launched cheaper ad-supported subscriptions, after having shunned the concept of ads on Netflix for years.
