There is a lot of competition when it comes to streaming services like Disney+ and Netflix.
©Disney
Netflix has been a leader in the streaming world for a while now, but Disney+ is challenging that lead and is actually expected to pass Netflix in number of subscribers in the next few years. Netflix has also been losing subscribers, and now, a new move could cause them to lose even more.
Netflix is planning on cracking down on password sharing, according to CNBC. They plan on charging the primary account holder an extra fee for every “sub account” or password sharer.
©Netflix
Netflix said that more than 100 million households are using a shared password, including 30 million in the United States and Canada. Instead of freezing those shared accounts, Netflix will most likely set an extra fee for those accounts being used by multiple people outside of the home, according to CNBC.
©William Antonelli/Business Insider
The company already began testing this feature in Peru, Chile, and Costa Rica. Netflix charged an additional fee to add “sub accounts” for up to 2 people outside of the home. The pricing is different in each country, but in these the fees were about $2.13 per month in Peru, $2.99 in Costa Rica, and $2.92 in Chile.
Disney Content on Netflix
Netflix is allowing people who use a shared password to transfer their personalized profile info to either a new account or a sub account, which will let you keep your viewing history and recommendations.
“If you’ve got a sister, let’s say, that’s living in a different city, you want to share Netflix with her, that’s great. We’re not trying to shut down that sharing, but we’re going to ask you to pay a bit more to be able to share with her and so that she gets the benefit and the value of the service, but we also get the revenue associated with that viewing,” said Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters, according to CNBC.
©Netflix
Peters also said that he thought it would take about a year to put its sub account pricing into use globally and suggested that the company may still tweak pricing or further review its test strategy.
No other major streamer has ever cracked down on password sharing like this before, and likely will not until they see how it goes for Netflix. It’s also unclear how Netflix will handle password sharing when it comes to situations like a family member temporarily living away from home, like when kids go off to college.
©Netflix
We’ll keep you updated on any more news about this new password sharing crackdown. Stay tuned to DFB for more.
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I use Netflix while on vacation–Wondering if every vacation spot is going to generate a new fee?
I’m a Consultant , 4-5 times a yr. I in different cities though the US. For
2-8 weeks . Does this mean I’ll be charged for each city I’m in over the constant rise in Netflix pricking.
AS IT IS I’m ALL READY CONSIDERING CANCELING NETFLIX, and this would make the decision for me .
Losing 200K subscribers will do that. Disney Parks & Experiences and Disney+ should take note.
“It’s also unclear how Netflix will handle password sharing when it comes to situations like a family member temporarily living away from home, like when kids go off to college.”
We’ve already run into this. We’ve had a “standard” account for years, which allows 2 family members to stream different shows at the same time. Netflix raised the price of a standard account by a couple of bucks, and at the same time, apparently DOWNGRADED our account to a “basic” account without our knowledge. Basic only allows 1 stream per family, so when DD (at college out of state) and I were both trying to watch at the same time, 2nd person got error messages.
Saddest part is, when we called Netflix, they gave some cock and bull story that a security violation had occurred on our account, and they asked us for our CREDIT CARD NUMBER in order to “prove our identity”. That just made hubby’s blood boil.
We figured out on our own that a better “solution” for us was simply to “upgrade” our account BACK to the standard plan level using the secure web interface; again this costs like $2 a month more.
This was a really crappy method of squeezing our family for $2 bucks a month more. Bad move, Netflix execs.
I have 6 TV’s in my home; 4 TV’s in a vacation home; 2 Firesticks in another vacation home, laptops, phones, tablets, etc. No more than 2 TV’s are on Netflix at a time.
If I am going to be charged for each TV and device, we will say farewell to Netflix, that’s for sure.
Too many other streaming services out there to be gouged by Netflix.
I am a traveling healthcare professional and move to a new location every 3 months. If they charge me everytime my firestick plugs into a new TV, they will definitely lose me as a customer!
With so many other streaming companies, do you think Netflix will loose customers due to this? It has been in place so long already.
What’s ridiculous is that they already charge extra for more streaming accounts. You pay more if you want to stream more at the same time. We’re a household of 4, each with our own device and our own account. If I want to watch a show at the same time that my husband wants to watch something different, and our daughter wants to watch something else, we already have to pay more than a family who has an account where only 1 thing can be watched at a time. This isn’t cracking down on account sharers, this is milking customers, forcing them to pay extra for things they already paid for. And as others have mentioned, how do they know it’s not someone just traveling and using the service in a different place? This is nothing more than corporate greed and it’s going to bite them in the rear.
Nothing else is treated in this way. If I go to the store and buy a bulk package of pasta, there’s nothing that says I can’t share half of that with my cousin. If I paid for it, it’s mine to do with as I see fit. If I pay Netflix for being able to stream on 3 devices at a time, it doesn’t matter where those three devices are. I paid for the service. Netflix shouldn’t get to decide when and where I use it. If I go to my friend’s house for a movie night because they have a bigger TV, it’s none of Netflix’s business that we use MY Netflix account. I paid for it, I can use it where I like. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some lawsuits about this for breech of contract, false advertisement, etc….they advertise that you can watch anywhere and that you can upgrade to watch on multiple devices, but now they are going to charge more for that? I have to wonder if that’s legal.
After reading the comments, the wheels started turning in the lawyer in me. After consulting with some of my colleagues who handle consumer class actions, I was informed that there is an Arbitration Clause in the Netflix contracts. Oh well.
What did we do before Netflix? We may have to retreat to that position. With all of the other streaming services, Netflix’s increasing costs and demands upon its consumers, we have many other television viewing options. Generally, it takes 6 weeks to break and develop habits. If Netflix price gouges, we can learn to live without them. Hopefully, the hear the voices of their consumers and come up with a more reasonable solution. I suggest a multi-user plan that gives the consumer the number of users at a time to access any of their devices from any location. Example, a 4 user plan would allow the consumer access on any 4 devices from any location at the same time.
Hi, I made an early comment, wanted to give an update. It appears that Netflix is handling the situation a bit better, especially their error messages
We have a “standard” plan, it allows streaming of 2 persons/devices at a time. Yesterday, 3 of us were on at the same time and the 3rd person get a nice message that said something like “Sorry you need to wait, or end one of the following two streams:
(name of show 1)
(name of show 2)
Note that DD in another state was watching show 1, and hubby in the next room was watching show 2. So Netflix seems to be behaving as it should: focusing on the number of streams, not on where the device is located. There was also an option to update to Premium, if we wanted to pay more to stream 4 devices at a time, which we don’t want but it’s good that it’s on the User Interface to give it as an option for others.