Netflix netted about $1.3 billion in profit during its first fiscal quarter, but the streaming company could be making more revenue, so it is pressing on with a crackdown on password sharing. On Tuesday, it revealed how this change will impact viewers in the US and UK, and how much it will cost them to share their accounts with people outside their home.
Can you share your Netflix account with someone in a different home?
Netflix has begun notifying paying subscribers about new options for any people who live outside their household: “Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with – your household,” its email reads. The company said you can choose to transfer an outsider profile to a new membership – for that particular user to pay for – or you can pay an additional fee every month on top of your base membership rate to keep that outsider on your account.
You can change your plan at any time by following Netflix’s steps here.
Netflix
How much is Netflix account sharing?
If you have the Standard plan, which costs $15.49 per month in the US, then Netflix said you have the option to add one extra member who can use the service outside your household for $7.99 extra each month. Meanwhile, Premium customers, doling out $19.99 per month, can have two extra members outside their household. Those on the Basic or Standard with Ads plans as well as people who receive Netflix through a third party are ineligible to host extra members on their account.
These rules apply not only in the US but also in the UK, where Netflix charges £4.99 per month for extra member slots.
What are Netflix’s account sharing rules?
According to Netflix’s Help Center, extra members can stream and download programming at the same resolution as allowed by their paying member’s plan, but they are limited to a single profile (with unique credentials) and a single device at a time.
Why does Netflix care about password sharing?
This is all part of Netflix’s effort to claw money from some of the 100 million or so households it has determined are sharing passwords. According to Netflix’s Q1 earnings release this year (PDF), around 30 million are said to be in the US and Canada. Earlier this year, in an effort to begin curbing password sharing, the company rolled out what it calls “paid sharing” in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain. This account-sharing system was also tested in Latin America last year.
As we anticipate the expansion of paid sharing, keep in mind that the UK’s Intellectual Property Office has declared password sharing for streaming services to be illegal.
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