Netflix has issued an update on its account and password sharing ban as it gears up to roll out the changes around the world.
The streaming giant previously announced plans to crack down on users sharing an account with people outside their household, and has now offered more details on when the changes will be implemented.
Netflix says it plans to roll out the changes in the United States and other countries in the current financial quarter, between April and July. This means password sharing will be banned by July.
The company has so far launched paid sharing in four countries this year and says it is “pleased with the results.” In a letter to its shareholders on Tuesday (April 18), Netflix said: “In Q1, we launched paid sharing in four countries and are pleased with the results.
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“We are planning on a broad rollout, including in the US, in Q2. We’re pleased with the most recent launches of paid sharing, and while we could have launched broadly in Q1, we found opportunities to improve the experience for members.
“We learn more with each rollout and we’ve incorporated the latest learnings, which we think will lead to even better results. To implement these changes, we shifted out the timing of the broad launch from late Q1 to Q2.”
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The changes have so far been introduced in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain following a trial in several South and Central American countries. Under the new rules, users can pay to add an extra ‘sub-account’ to their Netflix package for a monthly fee on top of their existing subscription.
The new charge is an extra CAD$7.99 (£4.78) in Canada, NZD$7.99 (£3.97) in New Zealand, €3.99 (£3.51) in Portugal, and €5.99 (£5.27) in Spain. Netflix is yet to confirm the cost for UK users.
A sub account can be added that has its own profile, login, and password. Users will also be able to transfer a profile from an existing account to a new one if they are required to set up and pay for their own account.
Netflix first announced the crackdown in October 2022 after it suffered from a loss of subscribers for the first time in a decade. Since implementing the changes, the streamer’s revenue has risen to $8.162bn (£6.572bn).
Netflix also confirmed 1.75m new subscribers had signed up to the platform during the first quarter of 2023. This takes the total number of subscribers to 232.5m – a 4.9 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2022.
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