Netflix paid account sharing option will start in a few months

Netflix account owners and borrowers will have to make some major adjustments soon. The company recently confirmed that its paid account sharing options would be available in more countries in a few months.

In a letter addressing shareholders for its Q4’22 financial report, Netflix provided updates on how it plans to tackle the common practice of sharing login credentials among friends and family members who do not live in the same household. Netflix aims to roll out its paid account sharing features in the latter part of Q1 2023, which could be between late February and March.

The company did not say what specific account sharing feature will be expanded to more regions. But Netflix tested two notable add-on options in Latin America last year, including the “extra member fee” and the “add a home” option. If these features that went into testing in Latin America are any indication, members could be asked to pay additional fees for every person or separate household streaming through their account.

Account sharing is technically not permitted in Netflix’s terms of use, which says content streaming “may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.” Netflix subscription tiers put a limit on the number of screens that can watch simultaneously. But accounts can be logged on to as many devices as possible, allowing generous account owners to share their subscriptions with anyone virtually without any restriction.

Netflix advised shareholders to expect a “cancel reaction” in response to the account sharing fees, which the company said it observed in Latin America. And the streaming giant added that this could affect its subscribers' growth in the short term.

It also expects the changes to “negatively” impact short-term engagement results. But Netflix assured shareholders, “We believe the pattern will be similar to what we’ve seen in Latin America, with engagement growing over time as we continue to deliver a great slate of programming and borrowers sign-up for their own accounts.”

Meanwhile, the company also confirmed it gained 7.66 million subscribers in the last quarter of 2022. But it was unclear how much of the membership growth was impacted by its ad-supported tier, which launched last November.

Photo by Dima Solomin on Unsplash