Netflix introduces NEW feature to BOOT freeloaders from your account to stem losses from password sharing
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Netflix has been in the headlines quite frequently, whether it is for their original movies or series. Speaking of Netflix movies and series, the time for freeloaders on the streaming platform is almost over — the content giant is going to start cracking down on password sharing from early next year. Netflix has always acknowledged how password sharing is one of the biggest issues facing the company. In April, as the company was losing subscribers and its stock plummeted, executives revealed that, by their own estimate, around 30 million households in the US and Canada were accessing Netflix through shared passwords. Now, after testing a handful of approaches to curb account sharing, they’ve announced new features that they hope it will encourage people to start paying up.
“We’re trying to come up with a range of options that supports customer choice,” Netflix chief product officer Greg Peters said during the company’s quarterly business update for investors. Netflix’s first solution is for moochers who are ready to take the plunge and pay for their own subscription — perhaps even the just-announced, ad-supported membership plan that’s cheaper and coming soon. But starting now, Netflix is offering subscribers the power to boot undesirable moochers from their account without having to change their password. This is in the hopes that said moochers will then pony up the cash to get their own accounts. Netflix's settings now has the “Manage Access and Devices” feature, which allows account owners to remotely log out of devices they don’t recognize or no longer want signed in. Going forward, account owners will also receive new login notifications via email.
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As confirmed by the streamer earlier this year, password sharing will be actively discouraged on Netflix. Starting in the early part of 2023, users that engage in password sharing (which is to say, have active profiles in notably different areas) could be charged as much as $4 more per month. Netflix initially tried to get ahead of this by allowing users with profiles on shared accounts to roll their profiles into their own accounts.
"We've landed on a thoughtful approach to monetizing account sharing and we'll begin rolling this out more broadly starting in early 2023," Netflix previously said in a quarterly statement. "After listening to consumer feedback, we are going to offer the ability for borrowers to transfer their Netflix profile into their own account, and for sharers to manage their devices more easily and to create sub-accounts ('extra member'), if they want to pay for family or friends. In countries with our lower-priced ad-supported plan, we expect the profile transfer option for borrowers to be especially popular."
However, Netflix essentially wants an account to only be available to people who live together in a single household. Each account supports up to five profiles, so every member of the family can personalize their viewing experience. But family or friends who live outside the household will need to either sign up for their own account or be added as an “extra member.”
The company is ranked 115th on the Fortune 500 and 219th on the Forbes Global 2000. It is also the second-largest entertainment and media company by market capitalization as of February 2022. Netflix's next-year plan really said, "we see you; so pay up, freeloaders."