No longer will it be possible for you and a couple of friends to share a Netflix subscription and share passwords. At least, in a couple of countries at first. Netflix has kicked off its crackdown on password sharing of accounts, starting off in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain. Netflix has said that it would roll out password sharing accounts to other territories in the coming months.
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“We value our members and recognise that they have many entertainment choices. A Netflix account is intended for one household,” the company said. Starting off in the aforementioned countries, users will now need to pay an additional fee to add profiles to their accounts for users not living in the same household.
In terms of pricing, users in Canada can pay an extra CAD$7.99 a month per additional member. The fee in Portugal and Spain is €3.99 and €5.99, respectively. Netflix users in New Zealand can pay an extra NZD$7.99 to add more members. This capability is only available on Netflix Standard and Premium customers. Netflix Standard subscribers can add one extra member, while those on the highest plan can add two.
While the number of profiles on an account isn’t affected, all profiles need to be in the same household to function as per usual. The primary location is set within the app, and anyone outside of that location will need to be added with the additional fees. That being said, subscribers can still log into a new TV with their Netflix account at a hotel or holiday rental.
We don’t have a lot of information about how this process will actually work or how Netflix will confirm all profiles are viewing the content from the same location. Also, it isn’t clear how quickly a user will be prompted to pay if viewing from outside the primary location. In Honduras, where the initial test was being run, users needed to pay for an additional profile after two weeks of accessing the account outside of the primary location.
