Netflix has finally confirmed that it will begin cracking down on password sharing early next year, after months of hints.
During its quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, the streaming giant announced that beginning in early 2023, subscribers will be charged an additional monthly fee if they share their login credentials. Netflix, which is also preparing to launch an ad-supported subscription tier for the first time, has announced that subscribers will be able to create sub-accounts as part of its aggressive effort to finally “monetize account sharing” (aka crack down on password sharing).
“We’ve settled on a thoughtful approach to monetizing account sharing, and we’ll begin rolling this out more broadly beginning in early 2023,” Netflix said in its most recent shareholder letter. “Following consumer feedback, we will allow borrowers to transfer their Netflix profile into their own account, and sharers to manage their devices more easily and create sub-accounts (‘extra member’) if they want to pay for family or friends.”
“We expect the profile transfer option for borrowers to be especially popular in countries with our lower-priced ad-supported plan,” Netflix added.
Netflix recently introduced a Profile Transfer tool, which allows users to easily transfer their personalized recommendations, viewing history, and other information to a new account. (A guide explains how the feature works in Pocket-lint.) It also announced last week that its $6.99 per month ad-supported tier, Ads with Basic, will be available on November 3rd in the US, UK, and other countries. According to Netflix, ads will last between 15 and 30 seconds.
