Netflix heralds a tightening against the habit of shared password. After Dazn, even his streaming majesty rails against the – more than common – practice of share login credentials among relatives or friends. In a letter to shareholders, the global giant of TV series and online films has announced that it intends prevent the use of the same subscription by several people belonging to different households. Or rather: sharing won't be banned, but it will stop being a free option.
Netflix: Shared password is a global habit
According to Netflix, they are more than 30 million US and Canadian households who use a shared password to access the contents of the platform. If, on the other hand, we broaden our gaze to the whole planet, the count rises to over 100 million families.
Shared Netflix password surcharge coming soon
Netflix will, in all likelihood, curb this practice by imposing a surcharge to accounts that are regularly used in different households. The streaming giant is also forced into this move by the latest quarterly accounts, which have disappointed expectations.
Netflix subscribers down for the first time
For the first in over a decade, in fact, Netflix has recorded a decline in subscribers (200 thousand less). The negative result is largely due to the decision of discontinue service in Russia (a choice which, moreover, triggered a class action lawsuit in the country headed by Vladimir Putin).
The stock market crash
But Netflix itself has admitted that the decline could continue in the coming months, thanks to the competition from other platforms (from Disney Plus to Amazon Prime Video, via Apple TV) and the end of travel restrictions to stem Covid infections. The news, released on Tuesday after the Stock Exchange, caused a real storm, with the title that left 22% on the ground, or more than 30 billion dollars.
