Friendships will be tested as Netflix’s era of carefree password-sharing comes to a bittersweet end.
Netflix recently revealed plans to quash password sharing, shedding light on the impact it will have on viewers. The changes that the streaming platform rolled out require additional fees to keep other users happily streaming alongside you.
According to the company, you’re subscribed to the Netflix Standard plan, clocking in at a cool $15.49 per month, you now have the option to add one additional member outside your household for an extra $7.99 per month.
Those that are subscribed to the Netflix Premium package with 4K streaming can bring in up to two extra members, but each one will cost an additional $7.99.
Unfortunately, Netflix subscribers who opted for the Basic or Standard with Ads plans, priced at $9.99 and $6.99 per month respectively, won’t have the luxury of expanding their accounts.
Beginning this week, Netflix subscribers in the US who are sharing their account “outside their household” will receive an email outlining the company’s updated password-sharing policies.
The same has also been rolled out for Netflix subscribers in Asia, namely in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Netflix has been tinkering with paid password-sharing experiments for a while now, having expanded their trials to include Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain back in February. The rollout in the US, originally slated for the beginning of this year, faced a series of delays, ultimately landing in April.
According to a support page, an “extra member” is defined as an individual with their own password and profile, paid for by the person who cordially “invited” them to join. However, these extra member accounts come with a set of restrictions. They must be activated in the same country, limit viewing or downloading to a single device at a time, and forbid the creation of additional profiles or logging in as a Kids profile.
In April 2022, Netflix experienced a decline in subscribers, marking the first instance in over a decade. At that time, the streaming site revealed that an astonishing number of over 100 million households were accessing the service through password sharing.
In its quest to reignite subscriber growth, Netflix has been cracking down on password sharing. They also introduced an ads plan, which has amassed nearly 5 million active users worldwide, and have made substantial investments in gaming, offering an additional enticing perk for their loyal subscribers.
It’s worth noting that these recent changes have yet to be rolled out in the Middle East, so Netflix users in that region can continue to enjoy their account sharing privileges for the time being.
