Netflix may charge you extra for sharing passwords with friends

Many Indians share their Netflix account password with friends and relatives and even split the subscription costs. But all this may come to an end as Netflix, which has not yet been able to crack the Indian market, is planning to introduce new features to curb this widespread practice of sharing passwords between people who log in from another household.

The streaming platform will add features like separate user profiles and charge users extra for sharing their password across households.

Explaining the rationale behind their move, Netflix’s director of product innovation Chengyi Long said in the blog post that they had always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in their 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,” said Long.

Further, Netflix stated that it will start testing its two new features in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, which will change how passwords are shared between accounts. The two new features are ‘Add Extra Member’ and ‘Transfer Profile to New Account’.

Also watch: Decoding Netflix’s failure to crack India’s OTT market

Subscribers can add an extra viewer to their package at a discounted price of roughly ₹230 in Chile, roughly ₹230 in Costa Rica, and roughly ₹160 in Peru. Subscribers of the Basic, Standard, and Premium plans can enable people who share their account to transfer profile information to a new account or an Extra Member sub account – keeping the viewing history, My List, and personalised recommendations. These sub-accounts will have their own login and password.

Netflix hasn’t spelt out when these new “features” will become applicable to other regions as well.

The streaming giant, which is trying hard to boost its subscriber base that has largely continued to remain stagnant, has been launching new plans to counter competitors like Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Sony Liv and scores of regional players in India. Earlier too, they had experimented with a tool called Account Verification tool to prevent unauthorised users from using another person’s Netflix account.

Netflix was launched in India in January, 2016 and still remains a distant third in the country. Although the platform does not reveal the number of subscribers, a research firm recently claimed that it has around 5.5 million subscribers in India.