Netflix Continues To Crack Down On Password-Sharing

Netflix currently allows its members to share passwords with anyone, and while this is expected to be supported for some time to come, doing so is going to carry additional fees, at least in some parts of the world for now. Chengyi Long, the director of product innovation at Netflix, announced in a blog post that password-sharing is "impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films."

To address this, Long said Netflix has been developing a new pricing structure that will allow people outside of the same household to share passwords, but with an extra cost associated with it. In the next few weeks, Netflix will test this new feature in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru.

"For the last year we've been working on ways to enable members who share outside their household to do so easily and securely, while also paying a bit more," Long said.

Very soon, members in those countries will be able to add extra members to their accounts for people they don't live with, for a fee of 2,380 CLP in Chile, 2.99 USD in Costa Rica, and 7.9 PEN in Peru. This is a lower rate than if a new membership was purchased. Users can also transfer their profile to a new account. You can see a breakdown of the new options below, as written by Netflix. Again, this only pertains to Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru for now, and for the purposes of testing only.

• Add an Extra Member: Members on our Standard and Premium plans will be able to add sub accounts for up to two people they don’t live with - each with their own profile, personalized recommendations, login and password - at a lower price: 2,380 CLP in Chile, 2.99 USD in Costa Rica, and 7.9 PEN in Peru;
• Transfer Profile to a New Account: Members on our Basic, Standard, and Premium plans can enable people who share their account to transfer profile information either to a new account or an Extra Member sub account - keeping the viewing history, My List, and personalized recommendations.

Whether or not this system or something similar to it comes to the US, Europe, and other parts of the world remains to be seen. But what is clear is that Netflix is not a big fan of password-sharing.

"We recognize that people have many entertainment choices, so we want to ensure any new features are flexible and useful for members, whose subscriptions fund all our great TV and films," Long said. "We'll be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world."

Netflix cracking down on password-sharing comes just after the company announced it made $29.7 billion in revenue and a profit of $5.1 billion in 2021. The company also just recently announced a price hike for subscriptions.