Netflix is testing a new way to end the free password sharing business. The company recently launched the "Add Additional Members" option for users residing in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. This feature will require people outside your household to pay to use your Netflix account, which is not there in India yet. The video streaming platform has now announced a similar "add a home" feature in a few more regions.
Netflix will test the new "add a home" feature in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Netflix has not yet revealed any information about charging users in India or sharing passwords outside of their homes. However, because this is a company-wide plan, such fees are expected to be implemented in the country in the near future. The company previously hinted that by the end of the year, it will begin charging all users for sharing their Netflix account passwords. As a result, we can anticipate the company introducing a feature similar to "add a home" to other countries in the coming months.
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End of Netflix password sharing
The new "Add a house" button will be seen in the said areas from next month. Once the feature is rolled out, each Netflix account in these regions will include a household where anyone living in the same household will be able to access the platform on any device. They will also be able to access Netflix on the go.
If you want to allow someone to use your Netflix account in another home, you must now pay a fee. You can add a home to your account for an additional 219 pesos in Argentina and $2.99 in the other test regions. We don't know how much Netflix will charge other countries users for sharing their passwords with people outside their homes right now.
Users on the Basic Netflix plan will be able to add one additional household, while Standard and Premium users will be able to add two and three additional homes, respectively, the company said. Netflix will also allow users in these test areas to control where their account is being used and will also give them the power to remove homes from the settings page whenever they want.
Announcing the move, Chenghai Long, Netflix director of product innovation, said, "It's great that our members love Netflix movies and TV shows so much that they want to share them more widely." “But today widespread account sharing among families undermines our long-term ability to invest in and improve our service,” he said.
The company recently announced that it is testing a cheaper subscription plan with ads. Currently, Netflix doesn't offer commercials, but given the sudden drop in the company's share prices, CEO Reed Hastings believes these moves will help the shares recover as well as users. Earlier this year, the company announced it had lost 2 lakh subscriber for the first time in a decade and blamed the password-sharing business for it.