Netflix postpones password sharing policy for a while

Maybe you thought: hey, where’s Netflix with its new policy against sharing passwords: well, that’s not coming for a while. The streaming service has decided to postpone it to July at the latest. So it’s not off track, but it will probably happen in June. This concerns the United States: we do not know what the situation is in the Netherlands.

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This week, Netflix informed shareholders of its plans, saying it would move its account sharing pricing from the end of the first quarter to the second quarter in the United States. It is hoped that this also applies to the Netherlands, but this cannot be said with 100% certainty. It is already active in some countries, such as New Zealand, Canada, Portugal and Spain. The new policy came into effect in February.

She is very satisfied with the results in these countries. In Canada, for example, other paying subscribers have already been added. In Canada, it costs 7.99 Canadian dollars more to add a person outside your household to your account (5.44 euros). This is a monthly allowance, so each month you pay 5.44 euros more for this sharing. Now it’s free. However, it still costs less than creating a new clean account.

1.75 million new subscribers

Netflix is ​​postponing it because it wants to test some possibilities. He also wants to see how it should continue to work when you go on a trip, for example, and how you can then ensure that you still have access to your account. Netflix created this whole policy after losing a lot of subscribers in 2022. However, they quickly reappeared in the second half of the year. In the meantime, many subscribers have also been added due to the new advertising subscription, which is a little cheaper. No less than 1.75 million units in the first quarter of 2023.

This ad subscription will get an upgrade, Netflix said. For example, you will soon be able to stream in 1080p instead of 720p. We do not yet have this subscription available in the Netherlands. With us, Netflix Basic is 7.99 euros per month, Standard at 11.99 euros per month and Premium at 15.99 euros per month. It is hoped that an ad-free subscription will be added, but many Dutch people see the policy against account sharing as completely wrong. Many Dutch people say they will cancel their subscription, but Netflix has already said it takes cancellations into account. Moreover, Canada has already proven that the new policy apparently does them no harm.

The question remains when exactly it will come to the Netherlands: will Netflix now stick to the countries where it already has a presence and then refine it, or will it not apply? than in the United States that have been postponed? We wait and see.