Anyone who likes to share the Netflix subscription with friends or family members is welcome to do so. From 2023, however, the streaming service will charge a surcharge. Netzwelt reveals everything about account sharing.
- Netflix not only saves money by selling numerous series, the streaming service also wants to see more revenue.
- Subscribers who share their Netflix subscription with family members or friends from other households will soon have to pay a surcharge.
- However, there is a loophole that can be used to avoid the higher costs.
In early 2022, things weren’t going well for Netflix: the streaming service was losing subscribers and forecasts predicted even greater subscriber churn in the coming months. Plans were quickly developed to reduce costs, increase revenue and make the offer more attractive again.
After a cheaper subscription model with advertising was launched, which is intended to appeal to price-conscious series fans, the streaming service next wants to deal with the issue of account sharing.
Netflix: Is Account Sharing Allowed?
Netflix allows you to create multiple profiles and, depending on the subscription model, run multiple streams in parallel. So obviously the streaming service is made to be shared with family members or friends.
In fact, Netflix only allows you to use your subscription on multiple devices in the same household. You can share your subscription with your family or flat share, provided you live together, but you should not pass on your password to friends throughout Germany or internationally.
However, Netflix of course knows that the reality is very different, with many subscribers sharing subscription costs with friends or relatives outside of their household. However, this should be over in 2023, because Netflix is planning a surcharge for people who share an account.
Surcharge for account sharing – if you want to share, you have to pay
As early as 2022, Netflix started the first test runs in Latin America to find a way to recognize shared accounts. The current plan requires Netflix users who aren’t at the subscriber’s home to enter a code that will be sent to the subscriber and expire after 15 minutes.
In this way, the new Netflix regulation could always be circumvented – provided the subscription owner was willing to always send you the corresponding code quickly. Otherwise, Netflix offers the option of adding more users to the subscription, which saves you the code detour.
The solution with the codes is actually only intended to guarantee that the legitimate subscription holders can continue to use their subscription regularly, for example when they are on the train or on vacation. Netflix then recognizes that you are not at home, but you can still stream.
There is not yet an exact date for this new account sharing rule, and the surcharge for additional profiles has yet to be revealed. Whether Netflix can really increase revenue in this way or shoot itself in the foot remains to be seen. The newly introduced cheaper subscription with advertising at least falls short of expectations.
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