Sharing a Netflix account with someone outside of your home? You’re not alone, and Netflix isn’t happy about it. The company currently charges account owners $7.99 for each additional user.
In a detailed letter to shareholders last month, Netflix explained plans for a broad launch, including the US, as one that would grow the paid membership base, thus increasing revenue, rather than which will reduce these metrics.
Now, the time has come.
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Netflix has started sending an email to account holders who have a membership shared with someone outside their household. In the email, the company explained that users outside the member’s household must transfer their profile to a new paid membership, or the account owner may have an additional $7.99 added to their monthly fee to continue sharing.
Paid sharing launches in the first quarter of 2023 in Canada, New Zealand, Spain, and Portugal. “In Canada, which we believe is a reliable predictor for the US, our paid membership base is now larger than before the launch of paid sharing and revenue growth has accelerated and is now growing faster than the US,” the letter read.
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When a paying member transfers someone’s profile to a new membership, the person outside the account holder’s household must pay for their own subscription to maintain their history on view list, as well as all other important information from their profile.
This rollout comes after Netflix’s paid sharing tests conducted in Latin America in 2022 have been successful, although reports say the company has lost nearly a million subscribers as a result. .
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Netflix explained that it had seen the first cancellation reactions in each of the three countries where it tested the paid sharing program when the news was announced. But it saw increased acquisitions and revenue as “borrowers” activated their own paid accounts and existing members began adding more shared accounts.
“Longer-term, paid sharing will ensure a larger revenue base from which we can grow as we improve our service,” Netflix added.
Netflix reports that the current account sharing reaches more than 100 million households of its subscribers. “Widespread account sharing undermines our ability to invest in and improve Netflix for our paying members, as well as build our business,” the company shared in the letter.
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The original plan was to launch a paid sharing program in the first quarter of 2023, but the company decided to delay this initiative. “We are pleased with the latest launch of paid sharing, and although we may have launched more in Q1, we found opportunities to improve the experience of members,” the letter reads.
Now that Netflix has rolled out paid sharing for US accounts, you’ll need to set a primary location for your account, and any people using your Netflix subscription outside of this location will lose it. access, unless you choose to pay extra. members. You can still log into your account on your phone or tablet, or a new TV in a vacation rental or hotel.
Netflix ad plan changes
The streaming service company also announced some changes to its new ad plan in April, allowing users to pay a lower price for a Netflix subscription with ads. In the letter, the company reported average revenue per member (ARM) for accounts with ads, including subscription fees and ad revenue, more than its usual plan.
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Seeing positive revenue and a slight shift to an ad-free subscription, Netflix has improved the experience for the ads plan to include 1080p-resolution video quality, up from 720p, and two parallel streams. .