Do you use a paid account for a service you don't own? It's difficult to crack down on password sharing when you're paying for a service. A new idea is being tested by the streaming company. Get the people who are actually paying for the subscription to pay a little more.
In three countries, a new user-prompt asks people to pay a slightly higher fee for using the service across multiple households. The fee is optional, which makes it sound like a guilt tax. Are you guilty of getting something for free? This is a way to make a difference.
The company is testing a feature that would allow people with an existing profile on the service to transfer it to someone else. Again, it's not required, but it's something you have to do because of a sense of obligation.
The streamer is positioning its desire for more money as a way to pay for better shows on the service. Password sharing is just a point of confusion, rather than a way for people to knowingly get the service without paying.
We have always made it easy for people who live together to share their account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams.
While these have been popular, they have also created confusion about when and how to share. Our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members is being impacted by accounts being shared between households.
Adding a new member from outside your household to an existing plan will cost you in Costa Rica, 2,380 CLP in Chile, and 7.9 PEN. The company wouldn't say how much the service would cost in the US.
Users who pay for a new account will be able to keep their viewing history and have personalized recommendations.
According to Variety, there are over 200 million paying subscribers worldwide, with 34% of them in the U.S. and Canada. It's no secret that subscriber growth slowed in the second half of the year, with the company desperate to find new revenue streams. The tricky part is not alienating existing customers with any strict password enforcement method that would make them give up their subscriptions.
We recognize that people have many entertainment choices, so we want to ensure any new features are flexible and useful for our members.
We will be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world.
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