At the beginning of 2023, Netflix will make it harder for people to share passwords, affecting 100 million users.
Insiders say that the time has finally come, as Netflix has been losing subscribers. Since it overgrew during the Covid pandemic.
A source who knows about the problem told the Wall Street Journal that the company lost. A lot of subscribers because people shared their passwords.
The source said that Co-CEO Reed Hastings told senior executives at a company meeting that sharing passwords has gone on for too long and that the pandemic only covered how bad it was.
Now, the 100 million people who borrow passwords might not be able to watch their favorite shows on Netflix. However, sources told the WSJ that Netflix would likely implement the ban slowly because it fears a backlash.
The same policy and how it will be enforced still need to be clarified. But the company will likely use IP addresses to track password sharing and stop it unless customers pay an extra fee.
According to the DailyMail, Netflix tried this in South America and charged an extra $3 (approx. ₱165) to $4 (approx. ₱250) a month for a second home, but it later “sunset” the idea.
The company tweeted in 2017 that “love is sharing a password,” so this is a significant change, and the executives know that customers won’t take it lightly.
This month, Co-CEO Ted Sarandos told investors, “Make no mistake, I don’t think consumers are going to love it right away.” He is also told that it was up to the company to show users how valuable the service was.
In November, Netflix added a version with ads and a smaller library that costs $6.99 (approx. ₱400) a month. This was another move to bring back subscribers who were leaving. Its competitor Hulu charges $7.99 (approx. ₱440) a month for a service with ads.
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