The end of password sharing on Netflix is imminent, posing a headache for both viewers and the streaming giant.
Reed Hastings, co-CEO of Netflix, admitted to his superiors earlier this year that the company had delayed addressing the password-sharing issue because it was camouflaged by the Covid-19 outbreak. Considering that 100 million people use shared passwords to access the site’s content, it’s clear that the platform is quite popular. According to the Wall Street Journal, the firm has now announced that beginning in 2023, it would charge users a fee if they wish to have several persons access the same account.
According to Netflix, over 100 million users are currently accessing the site via shared passwords with friends and family. Starting in 2023, Netflix will require account sharers to pay a fee in order to access the service. The company plans to push out the update first in the United States sometime in the first quarter.
The new terms of service from (the OTT) company state that the account holder must have access to all devices associated with the account at all times. However, the corporation has never followed through on its promise to enforce the terms of service. This year, Netflix announced that it would strictly enforce its policy that accounts should be shared between roommates by monitoring subscribers’ IP addresses, device user IDs, and account activity.
In addition, the OTT behemoth contemplated allowing users to rent pay-per-view material using their subscriptions, just as Amazon Prime members can. However, it realised that this feature could make users apprehensive of sharing their login credentials with others, which would lead to inflated costs. They ultimately opted against it because product executives were worried it would make the service more complicated.
Cowen Inc. analysts predict that Netflix’s endeavour will contribute $721 million in revenue in the United States and Canada next year, where there are approximately 30 million sharers. The estimate was derived from a survey that asked users how they would react to Netflix’s proposed $3 monthly fee to continue sharing an account with a non-roommate, as well as those who would pay more to create their own accounts.
“It’s an assist, and it can help, but it’s only an assist, and it’s temporary,” “A senior equities analyst at Morningstar named Neil Macker commented on the market. According to him, Netflix is drastically underestimating the number of subscribers who will leave as a result of this shift.
Netflix now requires users to enter a verification code for their device in order to access someone else’s account, rather than just preventing them from logging in. The primary account holder receives a code through email and has 15 minutes to enter it.
The borrower of the password can watch Netflix after entering the code, but the account owner may continue to receive prompts until the additional monthly charge to add a sharer is paid, as reported by those familiar with the tests. According to the sources, Netflix is considering a similar move in the United States.
It’s difficult for Netflix, according to sources familiar with internal debates, to tell the difference between an account holder accessing the service from a different location (such as a hotel) while on vacation and someone else using the account holder’s login.
Some of the people also said that Netflix discussed how to deal with households in which children spend their time between the houses of their parents. Allowing subscribers to notify Netflix of temporary moves to different regions is one strategy under consideration.
At first, Netflix just wants to give its consumers the tools they need to limit their own sharing.
Borrowers wishing to sign up for their very own subscription can now do so with the option to transfer their existing profiles, complete with viewing history and preferences, to their new account. Netflix claimed that this would be beneficial at times of “life transitions.”
Primary account holders get access to a dashboard that shows them which devices are currently signed into their account. Some users may not be conscious of the extent to which their account is being shared. Using the dashboard, they can quickly identify unauthorised users and immediately lock them out of the system.
Read more: Netflix Will Charge Users Extra Fee For Sharing Passwords
