In a letter to investors, Netflix repeatedly mentioned the principle of charging for account sharing. The platform seems definitely interested in applying it in the short and medium term in several new markets.
For the first time in its history, Netflix lost subscribers for an entire quarter: 200,000 more precisely between January and March 2022. Worse: the SVOD service estimates that around 2 million users will unsubscribe from its platform in the next quarter. . Sign that the growth is not infinite and that the competition is tougher.
To anticipate the loss of income, Netflix is considering several solutions. The group is working in particular on a cheaper package… which would however include advertisements. The other alternative is a hot topic within the community: charging for account sharing, which has always been free and saves a few bucks.
Over 100 million shared accounts
Netflix is currently testing this new system in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. The idea is simple: to add a new member who in this case is entitled to his own profile, login and password, a paid option must be set. Here, Netflix touches on a sensitive subject which could take on a certain importance.
Indeed, we learn that 100 million households would use Netflix thanks to a shared account. By invoicing this principle, a hell of a financial windfall would emerge. And this clearly appeals to the American company, which has mentioned the subject several times in a letter addressed to investors.
Preparing mindsets
For Netflix, paid account sharing “constitutes a great opportunity in the short and medium term“. The platform does not want to monetize everything overnight on all markets, but its intentions seem clear: to expand this offer to other countries, gradually, to observe user behavior.
We are thinking in particular of the United States and Canada, which have 30 million shared accounts out of the famous 100 million. From there to say that this change will land in France during the year, there is still a long way to go. But everything suggests that Netflix is already trying to prepare mentalities.
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