After testing its paid account sharing feature in Latin America, the company has now rolled it out to these four regions, preventing users from sharing their Netflix account with anyone outside their household without paying an additional fee. Netflix claims the move is to give its members more control over who can access their account, but the real reason is to generate more revenue.
Over 100 million households share Netflix accounts, and the company wants to address this issue by limiting the sharing of accounts. It has been testing different approaches in Latin America, and now it is ready to implement these changes more widely. Starting today in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain, Netflix is focusing on giving members more control over their account access.
According to Netflix, an account is meant for a single household, and the company is billing the paid-for account sharing as a way to increase revenue for investment in new shows and movies. However, it is unclear how many account sharers will be willing to pay for the extra fee. The pricing details for the added sub account are as follows: members on the Standard or Premium plan can add up to two extra sub-accounts for people they don’t live with for CAD$7.99 a month per person in Canada, NZD$7.99 in New Zealand, Euro 3.99 in Portugal, and Euro 5.99 in Spain.