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Netflix Password Sharing Crackdown To Expand To US In Q2 2023 (macrumors.com) 111

Posted by BeauHD from the what-to-expect dept.
Netflix is planning a "broad rollout" of the password sharing crackdown that it began implementing in 2022, the company said today in its Q1 2023 earnings report (PDF). MacRumors reports: The "paid sharing" plan that Netflix has been testing in a limited number of countries will expand to additional countries in the second quarter, including the United States. Netflix said that it was "pleased with the results" of the password sharing restrictions that it implemented in Canada, New Zealand, Spain, and Portugal earlier this year. Netflix initially planned to start eliminating password sharing in the United States in the first quarter of the year, but the company said that it had learned from its tests and "found opportunities to improve the experience for members." There is a "cancel reaction" expected in each market where paid sharing is implemented, but increased revenue comes later as borrowers activate their own Netflix accounts and existing members add "extra member" accounts.

In Canada, paid sharing resulted in a larger Netflix membership base and an acceleration in revenue growth, which has given Netflix the confidence to expand it to the United States. When Netflix brings its paid sharing rules to the United States, multi-household account use will no longer be permitted. Netflix subscribers who share an account with those who do not live with them will need to pay for an additional member. In Canada, Netflix charges $7.99 CAD for an extra member, which is around $6. [...] Netflix claims that more than 100 million households are sharing accounts, which is impacting its ability to "invest in and improve Netflix" for paying members.
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Netflix Password Sharing Crackdown To Expand To US In Q2 2023 More

Netflix Password Sharing Crackdown To Expand To US In Q2 2023

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  • Damned if You Do, Damned if You Dont (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Vandil X ( 636030 ) on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @10:09PM (#63460580)
    On the one hand, we all know every household should have their own Netflix account if you consider yourself a grown-ass man or woman, so you can see the Netflix angle.

    On the other hand, Netflix shows and movies would not have nearly the pop culture popularity if they were limited to each household having accounts. Too few people would have seen them. Shows like Stranger Things, Squid Games, and films like Birdbox would have never gained the same traction.

    So Netflix's success is due, in part, to people watching shows.

    Since they can determine who is freeloading, how about serve ads to freeloaders. If they don't want to see ads, they can subscribe. Easy enough for both sides.

    • Re:Damned if You Do, Damned if You Dont (Score:5, Insightful)

      by youngone ( 975102 ) on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @10:22PM (#63460592)
      The deal I had with Netflix was that I gave them $14 or whatever every month and Netflix was available on 2 screens via my account.
      My son would go to his girlfriend's house and watch Netflix on my account using his girlfriend's laptop.
      It seemed fair, sometimes I would not be able to watch Netflix because 2 other people were already watching, but that didn't happen terribly often, and if it got more annoying I would be able to pay extra and allow more simultaneous watchers.
      Netflix have changed the rules, so now we can't use it the way we used to, so we've dumped them.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by gnasher719 ( 869701 )
        Only problem is that wasn't the deal you had with Netflix. You paid them $14 a month so that Netflix was available on 2 screens, either in your household or on mobile devices, via your account. They haven't changed the rules, they are enforcing them.

        Obviously you have the right to cancel your contract if you figure out that you don't like the existing rules that they now enforce.

        • Re:Damned if You Do, Damned if You Dont (Score:4, Interesting)

          by blackomegax ( 807080 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @04:20PM (#63462742) Journal
          "must be the same household" was not a pre-existing rule, it's an upcoming change in the rules.

          I pay for screens, not households. That's the only thing keeping me with them, is my dependents who aren't here. Without the sharing ability, I'm dropping, and the people I'm sharing with have no incentive to pay their own way with the decline in quality of content and constant cancellations.

          It is indeed within netflix's right to fuck around. It is within our rights to let them find out.
          • Exactly. According to most of the people who replied to my comment I'm the bad guy here, or I didn't understand what I was buying or something, but you are in fact correct.

      • Just go to serieshd.watch and watch whatever you want for free.

        You're welcome

      • I'm interested - how has the rule change affected you? (Or rather, how has/will enforcement of the rules affect you?)

        As I understand it, your son occasionally watching at his girlfriend's house is absolutely allowed. If he moves in with her, then not so much, but you're absolutely allowed to "be mobile" with a Netflix account.

        The number of screens thing hasn't changed, so that's not the cause. I can only think maybe the out of the home thing is the problem - but how?

      • Or is that the deal that existed in your head, but not in the agreed upon terms of service?

        • Why would that option even occur to you? Netflix are pretty clear about their terms of service.
        • I started using Netflix when they had no subscription model. You loaded your account debit style and paid $1/DVD. When they switched to a subscription model, they wiped everyone's balances and never paid anyone back, or anything.

          That's the deal I had.

      • They didn't change those rules, actually. Your son can still watch Netflix on his GFs laptop quite often (counts as 'travelling'). He just has to also watch come Netflix from your household once in a while, which I think is fair. I live in Costa Rica, where Netflix beta-tested their crackdown. We have cheaper plans than the USA plans, luckily. My mother-in-law was sharing our account and quite annoying nag screens started to appear on her TV, asking for 2FA logins and all that. We could have gone on with t

      • sometimes I would not be able to watch Netflix because 2 other people were already watching

        What do you do when this happens?

    • Re:Damned if You Do, Damned if You Dont (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @10:35PM (#63460616) Homepage

      On the other hand, Netflix shows and movies would not have nearly the pop culture popularity if they were limited to each household having accounts. Too few people would have seen them. Shows like Stranger Things, Squid Games, and films like Birdbox would have never gained the same traction.

      Except this isn't like pirating Taylor Swift's latest album and then going full-on Swiftie and dropping $500 on merch from her web store. Netflix's product is their streaming service and popularity alone isn't going to make their stockholders happy.

      Ultimately, I think a major studio will probably end up just merging with Netflix.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by SpzToid ( 869795 )

        Ultimately, I think a major studio will probably end up just merging with Netflix.

        Ummmm, Netflix is very much a major, major Hollywood studio with deep, deep pockets to spend developing content. So is Amazon for that matter.

      • I'm just surprised the major studios let Netflix eat their lunch for so long without a real response. They thought they could just ignore streaming for at least 10 years after it was clearly the way people preferred to watch movies.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by GBH ( 142968 )

        I'm not sure where this perception that Netflix isn't a major player has come from. It's one of the largest on almost any metric you care to consider.

        I did some research a few months ago. Netflix ($146B) is the third largest pure play entertainment company just behind Disney ($181B) and Comcast($159B) by market cap. They invest more in foreign language programming than all of the other top 5 companies combined. They have profits of almost $5B a year and while they have a chunk of debt most of it doesn't mat

    • Re:Damned if You Do, Damned if You Dont (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ToddDTaft ( 170931 ) on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @11:32PM (#63460670)

      How does this system differentiate between what you're calling "freeloading" and family members traveling, especially if they aren't all traveling together? e.g. Mom is on a business trip to Ottawa; Dad is on a different business trip to Calgary; older child is at university in Vancouver; and younger child is at home. If I had paid for 4 simultaneous screens, I would want that scenario to work without issues.

      • We'll see. If it does prevent use when traveling then some number of people (including me) will cancel. I don't know how much of their market that represents.

      • This has the potential to be a real mess.

        I'm one of those annoying people who clears the cookies from his web browser regularly. So, like clockwork, every time I launch Netflix I get an email about "checking who's using your account". Now this is *strictly* because I've cleared cookies - me and my family are only watching from one location, and Comcast's IP addresses are rather static.

        You'd think an engineer with even a tiny bit of experience would log addresses when doing this sort of checking... but no, t

      • How does this system differentiate between what you're calling "freeloading" and family members traveling, especially if they aren't all traveling together? e.g. Mom is on a business trip to Ottawa; Dad is on a different business trip to Calgary; older child is at university in Vancouver; and younger child is at home. If I had paid for 4 simultaneous screens, I would want that scenario to work without issues.

        If you persistently access from outside your home for more than 7 days you will need to enter a code sent to the account holders email. You can even request a code before you travel if you know you will be more than 7 days away.

        If you persistently access for more than 30 days your device will be blocked until you can convince Netflix to unblock it.

        So Mom, Dad, and the youngster is fine.

        The older child never had any rights to access your account from his University. You never paid for that right.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Zak3056 ( 69287 )

          The older child never had any rights to access your account from his University. You never paid for that right.

          Older child at university's permanent address is likely still your home, and he is likely still a part of your household, so it stands to reason that yes, he had rights to access the account and you paid for that right.

          • Well if you successfully annexed the university grounds to make it a legal part of your "household", you shouldn't have any problem integrating the networks together and making that your "home network" for the purposes of Netflix's rules.

            • Well if you successfully annexed the university grounds to make it a legal part of your "household"

              Well, if the check for my kid's room and board didn't bounce and the IRS didn't reject my tax return for filing as head of household then clearly I've "successfully annexed" my kid's dorm room. Though that's certainly a weird way to say it. I can't find an IRS link in a quick search because it's drowned out by all the various tax advice websites that all say that a child away at college is still part of the parent's household. Which certainly makes sense if I'm paying the child's bills.

              I'm not sure how tha

        • University kids will just go back to watching pirated content for free like we did back when I was in university. College kids don't pay for software or movies.

      • Watching while travelling was and is allowed. There may be something like a fourteen day limit, after that it's not "travelling" anymore.

      • How does this system differentiate between what you're calling "freeloading" and family members traveling, especially if they aren't all traveling together? e.g. Mom is on a business trip to Ottawa; Dad is on a different business trip to Calgary; older child is at university in Vancouver; and younger child is at home. If I had paid for 4 simultaneous screens, I would want that scenario to work without issues.

        IIRC, Netflix's TOS allows viewing on mobile devices so Mon, Dad and the younger child would be OK. The one at uni would need a separate account; I suspect they may use viewing habits combined with IP addresses to differentiate from the business traveler / vacationer use patterns and someone who is viewing regularly from a different IP address. I don't like that Netflix is doing this but I understand why.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Krakhan ( 784021 )

        It's basically a rehash of a lot of old issues from the early 2000s as Cory Doctorow describes: https://pluralistic.net/2023/0... [pluralistic.net]

      • How does this system differentiate between what you're calling "freeloading" and family members traveling, especially if they aren't all traveling together?

        You can travel. You just need to come home at some point to prove you still live there. About the only time you will be affected is if one family member is taking a gap year overseas and won't be home for many months at a time.

        older child is at university in Vancouver

        If they don't regularly come home then they are SOL.

      • To my understanding, it reads what network the device is coming from. IE so if you use your ipad on your home network, you don't have to confirm for another month. If you don't bring your ipad home for a month, then it will force a 2 factor ID from something in that network. No idea what happens to say people with regularly changing IP addresses or say giant school networks etc..

    • A convenience of netflix is that I can log into on whatever roku or PC is front of me.
      The good thing about the shows was the broad array of foreign films.

      The foreign films have gone away.
      With the convenience going away as well, I think I know which service I will be cancelling next.

  • In Canada and I cancelled ours. Vote with wallet. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Que_Ball ( 44131 ) on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @10:32PM (#63460610)
    So I'm in Canada.

    I cancelled our Netflix.  I find it hard to believe they expanded revenue with this move.  I call BS on that.
    I have only heard from people who cancelled their accounts as a result of the changes.
    I paid for 4 screens simultaneous streaming.  I should get 4 end of story.

    Vote with your wallet, they will get the message.

    • You were paying to cover the costs of others. They eliminated that cost and now you're mad about it.

    • Why do people think they can just truncate the agreement at the number of words that mean they're in the right? It's a sickness in our society that people can't even finish reading a short section before running with the ball they assume they have. Their terms of service have included, "may not be shared with individuals beyond your household," for at least the last few years. So the "end of story" is not where you drove your stake in the sand.

    • I have only heard from people who cancelled their accounts as a result of the changes.

      I didn't cancel my account and we're one of the countries subjected to this ruling. You won't hear from people like me unless you go out and directly ask. People don't generally run around telling everyone everything that works just fine. Doing so would be exhausting. People complain and vent. Very much the squeaky wheel demanding the oil is not a reflection of the other 3 wheels on the trolley.

      I actually studied marketing at university (I know I know, don't worry I changed to a sensible degree because of h

  • Worked in Canada? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by fox171171 ( 1425329 ) on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @10:33PM (#63460612)

    They said it got them more subscribers in Canada. I'm not one; I canceled my account.

    I wasn't sharing with anyone, never had any need to. It just reminded me of the steadily increasing cost, while I was watching less and less. Should have done it a long time ago.

    • Re:Worked in Canada? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Luthair ( 847766 ) on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @11:13PM (#63460642)
      As a Canadian I cancelled mine after being subscribed from the first day they became available here. I hadn't liked their service in years but had been letting my retired parents & sister use it (and paid for 4-screens...).
      • My son's girlfriend and her Mother were watching ours which worried me not in the least.
        They're broke, so Netflix is not getting any money from them regardless.

  • My whole family shares one Netflix account. That's 5 households. We pay for 4 screens and it works out fine since most of us only watch occasionally. Now not only are they making us pay for "extra members," but they are adding additional restrictions: they are restricting it to only 2 extra members; those extra members can only watch 1 screen at a time, even if the main account pays for 4 screens. PLUS those "extra members" must be in the same country now. We have a family member in another country, so with

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DarkOx ( 621550 )

      Except you gotta realize that the number of subscribers they have that are quasi legitimately sharing an account over international boundaries is probably vanishingly small.

      Get as righteous about it as you like but the reality your case does not matter. It also probably runs headlong into a lot of additional licensing challenges for them around region and market exclusivity rules. Right now they get away with making a token effort around geo-locating IP addresses as if IP in IP tunnels don't exist; both Net

    • Okay, so, you're WILDLY outside of the TOS. That would, in fact, make you their precise target. They aren't even altering the deal. They're just enforcing the terms as they have been for a long time. They're doing the streaming equivalent of installing a red light camera - it was always against the rules to run a red light. Complaining about the camera isn't really getting to the point.

      You're caught between the rules you want, and the rules there are. From Netflix' perspective, all it will take is one of yo

  • Haven't they been paying attention to what a "Modern Family" can be?

    If those getting "cancelled" get vocal, it could be a lose-lose situation for Netflix, and it's off to the retraining classes for their executives.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jabuzz ( 182671 )

      I would wager that most people sharing Netflix or other streaming service passwords are in fact doing it with what most people would consider immediate family. That might be their children, parents or siblings. I would at this point note that my employer considers the above immediate family in its bereavement policy.

    • As an example: some of my neighbours divorced: The children stayed in the old house, and regularly the parents change houses, so one of them lives with the kids. During the change, they are both with the kids.

  • Canadian Here. No Impact. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Petersko ( 564140 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @01:06AM (#63460784)

    Been sharing my account with my retiree mother for several years. Waiting for the email, never came. There's only two using it, neither are heavy users, I buy the HD tier. I'm not their target - so I'm pretty sure I fall into the "don't bother them" category. I suspected that it would be the more egregious offenders who got targeted, and so far that seems to be true.

    • Been sharing my account with my retiree mother for several years. Waiting for the email, never came. There's only two using it, neither are heavy users, I buy the HD tier. I'm not their target - so I'm pretty sure I fall into the "don't bother them" category. I suspected that it would be the more egregious offenders who got targeted, and so far that seems to be true.

      That would not surprise me. There is no need to target casual offenders and risk losing them. All teh whining is simply loss aversion in action. I suspect many of the "I'm cancelling" won't bother.

  • I already don't watch... (Score:3)

    by dogcar3604 ( 1482103 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @03:11AM (#63460880)
    ...I can scroll for pages and pages and not find a thing worth the time to watch...
  • I'd be curious how that was calculated. Did Netlix get a net increase in subscribers in Canada, or did they only count the new accounts from households which used to share an account before, but ignored any cancelations, etc.

    • I'd be curious how that was calculated. Did Netlix get a net increase in subscribers in Canada, or did they only count the new accounts from households which used to share an account before, but ignored any cancelations, etc.

      Simple: they're lying.

      It's what corporations do.

      Frankly, if they start making me login and do two factor shit EVERY TIME I go to watch something, they're GONE.

      • I find it unlikely that they're lying unless they are very very very certain that no one can prove it.

        Netflix is publicly traded, and publicly misrepresenting subscriber figures is primo shareholder lawsuit material.

  • So they want to kill their US business? (Score:5, Informative)

    by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:03AM (#63460974)

    Because the reason these people are account-sharing is that obviously the value-for-price ratio simply is not there without account sharing. Well. Expect Netflix to be gone in a few years. No big loss.

    • Previously, there was no concrete benefit to getting your own account if you had access to a family member or friend's. With this "crackdown" Netflix will be increasing the value of paying for your own account, because it'll mean you don't have to jump through hoops to use someone else's. On the flipside, they're decreasing the value of the account for those who valued being able to gift it to their friends and family, but don't use it enough themselves to justify the cost.

      Will this lead to a net incre

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        But I have to assume that someone at Netflix did a bare minimum of market research that pointed to it going in their favor.

        I think they did not do that. What I perceive here is "Pirates! They must be bad for our business! Lets answer with repression to make more money!" Pissing off your customers is never a good idea, even if they are still only potential customers.

    • That is not at all obvious. My guess is that most people never even considered value for price, because all they had to think about was "should I pay and go through all the hassle of registration, or skip the hassle and pay nothing?".

      Now people will have to consider this. Some will say yes and some will say no. How many are still unclear.

  • I stopped Netflix once they stopped pretending to be "top-shelf" They were never anyway, but they had a good run. I was with them for 20 years. DVDs then streaming. Now I'm looking for the next thing. Ads don't bother me so long as I'm not paying and they are handled smartly (like old tv, one and done, no oops, connex gone, gotta watch more to get back to where you were.)
    Currently I'm "going to source" as much as possible and staying away from "TV providers" what a scam that is to keep (espn) cable from dyi

  • I think Netflix is going to trip and fall hard against some technical issues with this (or, at least, I haven't wrapped my head around how they'd avoid them). I'm a Comcast/Xfinity customer (yeah, I know), and they bundle Netflix into the offering. They way they've got it setup you can access it directly off your set-top boxes (and I think this is their primary motivation, it keeps you on their box and more likely to rent a movie when you can't find it on Netflix ...) and of course, you can also sign into

    • If they are doing like they have done in Spain, they will broadly ban anyone who uses Netflix from "non standard" setups... In Spain you are basically closed off from using Netflix if you live in a building with shared fiber (like a lot of buildings in poorer areas have) or use technology such as VPN... So, it is most likely that you will get screwed over...

      • I agree, in the short-term that'll screw me over, but my situation is the same as about 29M other Comcast/Xfinity customers so they'll just be shooting themselves in the foot in the end. Could be worth their while to figure it out in advance ... but as T'Challa is known for saying, "We don't do that here."

        • For what it's worth, I actually contacted Netflix customer support and raised the issue of "How are you going to keep from screwing over people with DHCP-issued IP addresses and multiple simultaneous addresses in the same physical household?" (paraphrased). Their response once I got it articulated and past the standard gatekeeping questions was "I understand your concern about this. But the whole things will be rectified and look after by our backend team without causing any issues for the customers accoun

  • I dumped Netflix when Child Pr0n movie "Cuties" came out. Gone.

  • I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for revenue I can tell you I don't have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills.

    Skills I have acquired over a very long career.

    Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.

    If you let my account go now that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. ..but if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you.

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