In an attempt to cut off freeloading viewers, Netflix will start charging accounts for password sharing as soon as early next year.
So when next someone outside your household uses your account, Netflix is planning to device a way by which they will be required to pay.
Even though the decision seems to have already been made by the company’s chain of command, the price is yet to be specified.
The new system is said to be tested in a number of countries in Latin America whereby subscribers were charged a fee for extra members which was worth roughly one-quarter the price of an “standard” Netflix plan.
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But if the streaming giant decides to go this route, then we can say extra member subaccount in the United States for example could cost about US$3.50 to US$4.
Netflix has tried for many years now to clamp down on password sharing by devising many methods one of which includes ad-supported low-tier subscription – when it had a huge subscriber loss earlier this year.
While Netflix continues to dominate the streaming industry, it’s already being rivaled by many media companies in the United States; most of which are working hard to pulling in as many subscribers as they possibly could.
With so many streaming services out there, Netflix has lost a number of subscribers but it’s now trying it possible best to hold on to the rest it still has.
The password-sharing fee system that Netflix will roll out more broadly appears to be modeled on a scheme it has been testing in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru for about six months.
The company also said it was going to launch a profile-transfer feature on Monday. This is meant to be a key component of the password-sharing fees being tested in Chile, Peru, and Costa Rica.
With the feature, a profile created on a shared Netflix account is able to transfer its watch history and recommendations to a new and independent one.
The new account can then be added to somebody ele’s Standard or Premium subscription plan.
In July, Netflix said it would test a different method in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
This test established an account’s primary residence as the “home” for the membership. Streaming at any additional households for more than two weeks would prompt the account to set up — and pay for — additional “homes,” with a limit on how many additional homes you can add depending on how much you’re already paying for Netflix.
Netflix appears to be eschewing this model in favor of the other one it tested.