Netflix has announced plans to begin charging you extra if you regularly share your account with users outside of your home.
Users outside your “primary location” will require an “extra member sub account”, starting now in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain, and elsewhere in the world “more broadly in the coming months”.
Sub accounts will cost less than a standard subscription – though more than it currently costs to share your password with family and friends. In addition, the pricing seems to vary from country to country, at €4/month in Portugal but €6/month in Spain.
Netflix’s The Witcher prequel Blood Origin slipped out at Christmas.
Netflix has finalised its plans after several weeks of uncertainty – largely caused by its announcement and quick U-turn on plans to actively block devices not connected to your account’s primary location each month.
Even with this new announcement, much remains unclear. How will Netflix enforce these changes? Will signing up for sub accounts be – initially, at least – a voluntary move?
For some time now, Netflix has taken the stance that your account should be for one household only – though it is only now taking steps to clamp down on those who don’t play by its rules.
We know there’s been a lot of confusion about sharing Netflix.
A Netflix account is intended for one household, so we’re rolling out new features in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain (and more broadly in the coming months) to give you more control over your account…
— Netflix (@netflix) February 8, 2023
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In January, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters admitted to Variety that the company expected some “cancel reaction” to its impending anti-account sharing changes, and that it would “not be a universally popular move”.
The changes are designed to be a “gentle nudge” to those who don’t pay, Peters concluded, though it’s easy to see how some level of account sharing could remain.
