Netflix plans to start charging for shared accounts in early 2023

Netflix returns encouraged after its recent favorable financial results. After losses that some saw as the end of the streaming bubble, the platform announced it had added 2.41 million subscribers in the third quarter of this year, far more than expected. And they’re not going to stop there. With the upcoming launch of their ad-supported subscription, they want to see that number increase a lot. But this will only be the first step in finding new users for more drastic measures..

As we already knew, Netflix is ​​extremely concerned that a good number of users are sharing their accounts with people who don’t live in the same house. According to the company, around 100 million subscribers share their accounts. In an effort to profit from those who don’t want to pay for a full membership, Netflix is ​​testing a way to charge a monthly surcharge for each profile used outside the account owner’s home. The platform announced in its investor report that they would begin rolling it out in early 2023.

While they haven’t said how much that extra will cost, media like Engadget indicate it would be between 3 and 5 euros per month for each profile used outside the main house. This system, which has been tested in some Latin American countries, identifies the owner’s IP and would tag any device used outside of it. What happens if we are traveling? Netflix will make it possible to verify that this device is being used by someone in the primary household via a code sent to the owner. Maybe if that “journey” lasts too long, they understand that it is someone who does not live in the owner’s house and will offer the monthly extra or create their own account if they want to continue using Netflix, with the new possibility of transferring the complete profile of an account on a new one. At the moment they just say they can ask for device verification again.

Because the company seems to care that parents pay for the subscription and that children studying abroad can continue to use it. That they pay even if they do seem to be the guideline. “People who don’t live in your family will have to use their Netflix account” they say on the platform’s help website. A few days ago, the function of transferring a profile to a new account was introduced. In Netflix’s statement they begin to say directly “People move, relationships end. But in those life changes, your experience with Netflix should stay the same.”. With this service, Netflix offers the ability to move everything from a profile’s watch history and watchlists to personalized recommendations and game saves to a new account. All to make it super easy for you to start paying for the subscription you previously shared with your family or friends remotely.

Things are coming …

From Netflix they claim that they have pricing plans for all tastes, and they hope that the plan with advertising that will cost € 5.49 per month will be a success. What they don’t point out so strongly is that this plan, which will be one of the cheapest in the streaming landscape, won’t have the entire catalog first due to licensing deals with movies and series that aren’t theirs, and that the content they do not even seen in high definition, but only at 720p. The issue of image quality has already been quite controversial because other platforms offer 4K content in the platform’s base subscription. But even the competition is not without criticism because it will also take advantage of the launch of subscriptions with advertising to “recalculate” prices, such as Disney +, which intends to charge the current price that the subscription costs for the version with ads, and launch a “version” premium “No advertising but more expensive. A hidden rise. Many changes are coming in the field of streaming and everything indicates that we will have to open up our portfolio more or be more selective in the choice of platforms.