The streaming platform wants to prevent households from cheating the system and paying for shared accounts. What tool will you use to achieve it?
For iProfessional
12/26/2022 – 9:32 p.m.
After a failed attempt this year, Netflix it plans to start collecting shared accounts at the beginning of 2023. This is a movement that is not to the taste of users of the popular streaming content platform and that even generated boycott attempts.
The company has already defined the tool to prevent its millions of users from “cheating” the new conditions.
According to a recent report published by The Wall Street Journal, the platform is looking to generate more revenue going forward due to a sharp reduction in its user base, which totaled 200,000, and as many others as part of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
To ensure that the new terms of service are met, Netflix will check through the IP of the connection of the device with which you log in: in this way, you will know if they share the same password between several users.
To verify it, the platform will send a link to the associated email address or phone number with the primary account owner.
“Add a house”, the new Netflix plan
Throughout this year the company has announced and introduced different measures that anticipated andthe end of shared accounts, such as a new, more affordable subscription plan with ads, the possibility of transferring a profile to a new account or charging the owner an extra for each additional member who uses it as a sub-account, a modality known as “Add a house”.
The platform seeks to generate more revenue for the future due to the pronounced reduction of its user base
The company tried this last option between August and October in our country, but decided to suspend it due to the anger it caused among its customers. “After listening to consumer feedback, we decided to discontinue the features of ‘Add a house‘ in Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic,” the company reported through its blog.
How “Add a House” will return to Netflix in 2023
With revenue plummeting this year and Netflix’s first subscriber loss in 10 years, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings decided it was time to act on the problem, which had been put off for far too long.
That’s why, starting in 2023, Netflix plans to ask people who share accounts with others outside of their household to pay to do so.
Previously, Netflix tested this modality in some Latin American countries, charging around 3 additional dollars.
In the countries where it did, the primary account owner was required to provide a verification code to anyone outside the household who wanted to access the account, and Netflix repeatedly asks for the code until a monthly fee is paid to add subscribers who are not from home.
A similar tactic could be used in the United States, with Netflix charging just below the cost of its $6.99 ad-supported plan for non-household subscribers sharing someone’s plan.
Netflix wants those who have a shared password to sign up for their own subscription and will enforce password sharing rules through IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity. The goal is to phase out password sharing instead of doing it all at once.
