Wedbush Securities Managing Director Michael Pachter breaks down Netflix’s fourth-quarter earnings report and discusses solutions to its monetization problem on “The Claman Countdown.”
Additional information about Netflix’s efforts to restrict members from sharing passwords outside of their families has come to light.
The “Sharing your Netflix account” pages on the streaming giant’s Help Center for Costa Rica, Chile and Peru on Wednesday said that “anyone in your household (those who live with you in your primary location)” can use a Netflix account .
The Netflix logo (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Those who are not part of what Netflix considers a family will need to have their own account. Or the owner of the account the strangers used can add them as an “additional member,” according to those websites.
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The cost of adding an “additional member” to an account with a standard or premium plan is “less than the price of [Netflix’s] basic plan,” the Help Center pages for all three countries add. This additional monthly fee will be charged to the person whose account the “additional member” is added to.
“When someone accesses your account from a device that is not part of your primary location, or if your account is consistently accessed from another location, that device may be blocked from viewing Netflix,” the website also states.
To detect devices associated with an account’s primary location, the company said it uses IP addresses, device IDs and account activity.
In this iIllustration photo, the Netflix logo is seen on the screen of an iPhone in front of a computer screen showing a Netflix logo. (Chesnot/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Linking a device to a primary location involves “linking[ing] to Wi-Fi in your primary location, open it[ing] Netflix app or website and watch[ing] something at least once every 31 days,” the Costa Rica Help Center page says. Those so-called “trusted devices” allow users to stream content on Netflix when they’re not at the main location.
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People can still use the streaming service while traveling or living “between countries” by using a temporary access code or by updating an account’s primary location.
A man presses the Netflix button on a TV remote control. (Phil Barker/Future Publishing via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Netflix said in a Jan. 19 shareholder letter that more than 100 million households have engaged in account sharing, something it said “undermines our long-term ability to invest in and improve Netflix and build our business.” The company has plans for the new paid sharing system to launch “more broadly” in the first quarter of 2023, it also said.
NETFLIX plans to stop users from sharing passwords until the end of March
“Short-term commitment,” Netflix said, could see some negative impacts as the company expands its paid sharing system and some users opt out rather than create their own accounts or become an “extra member.” However, the company said it expects engagement to increase “over time.”
| TICKER | Safety | The last | CHANGING | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFLX | NETFLIX INC. | 361.99 | +8.13 | +2.30% |
The total number of Netflix subscribers reached 230.75 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to 221.84 million reported in the same period in 2021.
