Netflix to Test Paid Alternative to Password Sharing

Netflix is experimenting with a new solution to prevent subscribers to share their passwords outside of their household, something that the company has been seeing more and more as a problem in recent years. In the coming weeks, Netflix will let subscribers in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru pay to give up to two extra members they don’t live with access to Netflix at a lower price.

It’s pretty common for Netflix subscribers to share passwords between households, especially now that there are so many different SVOD services to pay for. According to Netflix, though, the purpose of this experiment is to reduce “confusion” around password sharing and ultimately increase Netflix’s ability to create more original content.

“We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans. While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households – impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members, explained Chengyi Long, Director of Product Innovation at Netflix.

When the experiment will go live in the aforementioned 3 markets, subscribers on Netflix Standard and Premium plans will be able to pay for 2 extra members, which will have their own profile, login, and password. Netflix will also allow users sharing a Netflix password to transfer their profile information to a new account or an extra member sub account, all while keeping their own Netflix list of shows and recommendations.

The lower prices for these Netflix sub accounts will be 2,380 CLP in Chile, 2.99 USD in Costa Rica, and 7.9 PEN in Peru. “We’ll be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world,” Long said today.