Netflix ends password sharing in India after trials in other countries
The streaming service said that people can no longer share their accounts with people other than those living in their household.
Netflix, which is quite a popular streaming service has since its inception been shared by people, whether it was the CD era or the online account era. It has been some sort of a tradition that a man or a group of people would subscribe to Netflix so that each of them can use it at their home in their own leisure without any of them actually being in a household. However, this tradition of long is coming to an end as Netflix looks to end password sharing amongst people who do not live in the same household.
Netflix in a in a new blog post, wrote, “Starting today, we will be sending this email to members who are sharing Netflix outside their household in India. A Netflix account is for use by one household. Everyone living in that household can use Netflix wherever they are: at home, on the go or on holiday and take advantage of new features like Transfer Profile and Manage Access and Devices.
“We recognise that our members have many entertainment choices. It is why we continue to invest heavily in a wide variety of new films and TV shows — so whatever your taste, mood or language and whoever you are watching with, there is always something satisfying to watch on Netflix.”
While this move was a surprise to its subscribers in India, it was however not unexpected as Netflix was already testing this move in various other countries such as the USA, Canada, Spain, New Zealand, etc. Under this new policy, if someone wants to share a Netflix account, then they will have to pay an additional monthly fee to access their profile.
While this move has for now worked in the USA and other countries where it was implemented first, it will be interesting to see if it works in India as well.
In a recent letter to its shareholders, Netflix announced its plan to address account sharing between households in most of its remaining markets. However, in these markets, an extra member option will not be offered. The decision is influenced by recent price reductions in several countries, such as Indonesia, Croatia, Kenya, and India, where penetration rates are still relatively low, and the company believes there is significant growth potential without adding complexity.
Netflix also stated that users who are sharing accounts will have the option to transfer their current profile to new or existing accounts.
Meanwhile, Netflix is removing its basic plan which allowed users to stream with commercials in the US and the UK. This comes into play as Netflix is looking to bring more and more consumers into its ad-supported tier so that it can earn more revenue through the ads. Netflix had introduced a new $7 plan which showed advertisements in 12 markets including the US in November last year. Because of this decision, new or renewing members cannot get the basic non-ad plan but those members who are already on that plan can continue on the plan till they decide to either upgrade or cancel their subscription.
These moves come in the backdrop of the writers and the actors strikes which could significantly affect Netflix financially as their productions in the US are now stuck for the foreseeable future. Many movies and web-series are also being delayed as a consequence to these strikes. Thus, Netflix is looking at new ways to reduce its losses and at the same time earn more money.
