NETFLIX PLANS TO THE END PASSWORD SHARING IN EARLY 2023

Thu 22 December 2022:

Netflix is reportedly planning to put an end to its password sharing feature in early 2023.

There had been rumors about the end of password sharing, but the changes are set to go into effect next year, according to MacRumors.

The company has put off this moment for years. Researchers inside Netflix Inc. identified password sharing as a major problem eating into subscriptions in 2019, people familiar with the situation say, but the company was worried about how to address it without alienating consumers. Then Covid lockdowns hit, bringing a wave of new subscribers, and the effort to scrutinize sharing petered out.

Because of this year’s revenue decline and the platform’s first subscriber loss in ten years, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings decided it was time to address the issue.

Starting next year, the company plans to ask users who share accounts with others outside of their household to pay for the same, the report said.

More than 100 million Netflix viewers now watch the service using passwords they borrow—often from family members or friends, the company says. Netflix has said that it will put an end to that arrangement starting in 2023, asking people who share accounts to pay to do so. The company expects to begin rolling out the change in the U.S. early in the year.

While Netflix hasn’t announced its plans for the U.S., it has been running tests in Latin American countries, one of the regions where password sharing is most prevalent. In those tests, Netflix lets subscribers pay to share accounts with up to two people outside of their homes.

Rather than blocking password borrowers from accessing someone else’s account, Netflix prompts them to enter a verification code for their device. The code is sent to the primary account owner, and must be entered within 15 minutes.

The password borrower can watch Netflix after entering the code, but might keep getting prompts until the account owner pays an additional monthly fee to add a sharer, according to people familiar with the tests. Netflix is weighing similar plans for the U.S., the people said.

In October, the streaming giant had announced the ‘Profile Transfer’ feature to prevent password sharing that had been rolled out to all members globally.

Netflix on Wednesday also announced that it will launch ‘Nike Training Club’ on December 30, 2022, with which users will be able to stream fitness content.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent