Netflix Cracks Down on Password Sharing, and It’s Working
In the era of digital media consumption, streaming platforms have revolutionized how we watch movies and TV shows. Among the top contenders, Netflix has emerged as a dominant force, offering its subscribers a vast content library. However, with the rise of password sharing, Netflix and others are taking it upon themselves to put it to an end which has caused some mixed feelings among users.
Let’s be honest; we all know someone who shares their Netflix subscription with family or friends in a different household. Maybe they even split the costs of the account. While this may seem harmless and a good way to save a couple of bucks, Netflix and other streaming platforms aren’t so keen on this method. After all, they are a publicly traded company and want the most money they can get to continue to improve their business and platform for all their users. So to us, this feels like it’s been a long time coming for them to figure out a way to stop users from taking advantage of them.
Just a few months ago, Netflix announced they were going to begin cracking down on password sharing in the near future. Well, the time has come, and the crackdown is well underway.
If you’re sharing an account, you may have gone to watch an episode of Stranger Things and been told that you need to verify that this is your home account. By doing this, it essentially sets your home and any devices on the same WiFi to have full access to your Netflix account. In return, this blocks other devices outside of your home and prompts them to purchase their own plan. Netflix has restructured its plans into four different options.
- Standard with ads - $6.99/month
- Stream to 2 devices at once in the same home
- Full HD
- Basic - $9.99/month
- Stream to 1 device at a time
- Full HD
- Standard - $15.49/month
- Stream to 2 devices at once in the same home
- Full HD
- Option to add 1 additional member from any location for $7.99/month
- Premium - $19.99/month
- Stream to 4 devices at once in the same home
- Ultra HD (4K)
- Option to add 2 additional members from any location for $8.99/month
- Spatial Audio
It’s clear to us that the Premium Tier is well worth the money. It’s the only one that will let you stream in 4K, stream to 4 devices in your home (which is key if you have a family), add two more members outside your home for only $9 a month, and includes Netflix’s new spatial audio feature (which is pretty cool to test).
What’s more interesting is that even though there was some outrage at first, this new strategy employed by Netflix seems to be working in their favor. At first, US subscription cancelations increased from May 25-28, once Netflix started the crackdown on May 23rd. Obviously, this was to be expected as many people would cancel in protest or just simply didn’t want a new plan option. However, the ratio of new sign-ups to cancelations since May 23rd increased by 25.6% compared to the previous 60-day period.
And based on the most current data from Antenna, Netflix reached nearly 100,000 new daily sign-ups on May 26th and May 27th. With an average of 73,000 sign-ups during the May 25-28 timeframe, a 102% increase from the prior 60-day average. These exceed the spikes that were seen in March and April 2020 when the Covid-19 lockdowns began!
We are happy to see Netflix has an ad-based subscription for an affordable $6.99/month. That plan alone created over 5 million sign-ups in the first six months of its release. However, the days of sharing your Netflix account with others are over. In our opinion, if you want to truly enjoy your home theater or media room to its fullest potential, your best bet is the Netflix Premium plan. It’s not inexpensive, but you get loads of content in 4K and can easily add a couple of family members who live in other locations for only $8.99 each, which we think is a reasonable solution for both viewers and Netflix.