Netflix moves forward with blocking password sharing

Still catching up on Love Is Blind but don’t have a Netflix account? Well, you might want to figure out how to scrounge up $6.99 because Netflix is officially making good on their promise to crack down on password sharing.

Beginning this week, Netflix will attempt to force users in the United States to limit their password sharing to just those in their home. As per the company’s website, “A Netflix account is meant to be shared by people living together in one household…People who are not in your household will need to sign up for their own account to watch.” So that mooching brother-in-law and tech-deficient meemaw will have their supply cut off unless they get their own account or convince you to pay for them to continue leeching. Users who have either the Standard or Premium accounts (priced at $15.49 and $19.99/month, respectively) can add “extra members” for a fee of $7.99 per month, something which comes with its own set of stipulations.

The move is, of course, just another way to grab money from consumers. In a letter from Netflix, the company said of their password sharing tactic, “As borrowers start to activate their own accounts and existing members add ‘extra member’ accounts, we see increased acquisition and revenue. For example, in Canada, which we believe is a reliable predictor for the US, our paid membership base is now larger than prior to the launch of paid sharing and revenue growth has accelerated and is now growing faster than in the U.S.”

Netflix has been toying with limiting password sharing for years, really pushing it into action around the time they reported a net loss of 200,000 users in the first quarter of 2022. Geez, what’s next, no more DVDs by mail? Oh…

What are your thoughts on Netflix’s password sharing maneuver? Do you think they will see a boost in subscribers and revenue? Give us your take in the comments section below.