Customers who share their Netflix accounts with family and friends may have to start paying extra. Netflix recently stated in a press release that they plan to start charging extra for password sharing, for about three dollars per profile.
Netflix is planning to start testing this in countries like Costa Rica, Chile, and Peru. Should it succeed there, they'll implement this all over the world. But of course, they can only get away with such a change if customers aren't paying attention, which doesn't seem the case. Patrons are already outraged by the decision, claiming it reduces the practicality of the service and only seems to be out of greed, much like AMC's decision to raise The Batman ticket prices.
Per Netflix's blog, because accounts are being shared between people from different households, the streamer's ability to invest in new films and television shows is being impacted. One of the two new options being tested to allow people to share accounts between households while paying extra is the "Add an Extra Member" feature. "Members on our Standard and Premium plans will be able to add sub accounts for up to two people they don’t live with - each with their own profile, personalized recommendations, login and password - at a lower price," said Netflix. Meanwhile, the "Transfer Profile to a New Account" feature allows "members on our Basic, Standard, and Premium plans [to] enable people who share their account to transfer profile information either to a new account or an Extra Member sub account - keeping the viewing history, My List, and personalized recommendations."
In response, one user asked, "How do you expect families to handle password sharing in the case of divorcees, their children, or college students away from home? We already pay a lot for it, now you're just milking us for every dollar spent." This is a very fair complaint, as it's simply not good service if it can't even be used by immediate family. And besides, how should the customers' practices be Netflix's business at all? None of the other services bother to ask, and this'll just make Netflix's competition more appealing by comparison.
The only realistic answer to this is that Netflix needs the money. It used to be they were the only major streaming app, and were by default successful. But now, they have to face companies like Disney, Warner Bros., and Universal, who already own their material and don't need to pay for any licensing. This is why Netflix wants to get to the point where they own all of their own content, and why their licensed catalog shrinks every year. But to do that, they have to invest millions of dollars in Netflix Originals, which only occasionally become a major hit.
The current state of Netflix is rather unfortunate. While they still produce some great films and shows every year, like The Power of the Dog, the service is emphatically not what it used to be, and it is having a hard time living up to its competitors. Even with their millions of subscribers, they'll ostensibly never pay off the debt raised from Netflix Original productions and licensing from other studios. Despite how iconic the app is, it's unclear how long it can last.
Netflix plans to start testing this program within a few weeks.
Source: Netflix