Sharing your passwords with your friends and family has become a common practice since the Netflix release. However, the streaming giant has been planning to crack down on password-sharing practices through various means. The company is currently testing something in Latin America, but a new report suggests that it could be expanded to other regions later this year.
Netflix believes charging an additional fee for sharing passwords will help in long-run revenue generation despite the initial backlash
Based on the information from an earnings report, Netflix will implement this new change towards the end of the first quarter of this year. The change will prompt users to pay a higher monthly fee if they are currently sharing their passwords with anyone outside the same household as the subscriber.
The earning report mentions that Netflix will give subscribers the "option to pay extra if they want to share Netflix with people they don't live with," however, there are no details on the pricing. If the platform does go ahead with it, there can be a backlash, and the company is well aware of it and still wants to continue with this implementation as it can help with "improved overall revenue" in the future.
So how does this process work? In countries where this password-sharing limitation is already implemented, Netflix does not stop or block users from sharing their passwords. However, you now get a verification code that is sent to the account holder. Once the users have entered the code, they can access the shared account, but even after that, prompts will show up until the account holder decides to pay the fee.
The implementation is pretty neat and we will surely see some backlash on it going forward, but it is safe to say that it is bound to help Netflix generate more revenue in the long run.
Are you willing to pay a higher fee just so you can share your account with someone? Let us know your thoughts below.
