The question of account sharing is taking on a new dimension for Netflix. While its expected growth in the first quarter of 2022 has disappointed investors, the Los Gatos firm has just increased its prices in the United States, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom, the recruitment of new subscribers is becoming a strategic issue. . Although the churn rate is the lowest of all streamers, Netflix now has to deal with the wave of AVOD. Under these conditions, all the means to recover subscribers or enhance the fact of accessing its offer seem relevant.
It is therefore under the pen of Chengyi Long, the director of product innovation of Netflix that we discover the process put in place by Netflix to make subscribers who share their account contribute. Chengyi Long justifies the decision of the world leader in SVOD in these terms: “We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans. While these features have been very popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are split across households, impacting our ability to invest in new series and movies for our members. That’s why, last year, we looked for ways to make it easy and safe for members who share their account outside their home to do so, while paying a little more. »
For the moment, this is only a test carried out in 3 countries in the LATAM zone: Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. Two new features will therefore be deployed:
- Add an additional member: Members of the Standard and Premium plans will be able to add sub-accounts for up to two people they don’t live with – each with their own profile, personalized recommendations, username and password – to a lower price: 2,380 CLP in Chile, 2.99 USD in Costa Rica and 7.9 PEN in Peru; approximately $3 in Chile, $2.99 in Costa Rica and approximately $2.12 in Peru;
- Profile transfer to a new account: Members of the Basic, Standard and Premium plans can allow people who share their account to transfer their profile information either to a new account or to an Extra Member sub-account – retaining the visit history, My list and personalized recommendations.
Netflix seems aware of the consequences of these new features, explaining:
“We realize that people have many choices when it comes to entertainment. So we want to make sure that all new features are flexible and useful for members, whose subscriptions fund all of our major TV shows and movies. We will work to understand how useful these two features are for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world. »then adding: “In the three test markets, Netflix will over the next few weeks inform members who share their account outside their household of the new options. A member may be prompted to verify their account only if a device outside their household connects to the account; Netflix can then ask the user to verify the connection from the device by sending a verification code. »
Netflix’s terms of use are very clear on this subject and specified in article 4.2: “The Netflix service, and any content you access through the service, is for personal, non-commercial use only and should not be shared with anyone outside of your household. For the term of your subscription, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access the Netflix Service and Netflix Content. Except for the foregoing, no right, title or interest is granted to you. You agree not to use the service for public screenings. » We have been warned!
Without being able to be assimilated to piracy, account sharing has become a real subject for platforms. We even remember that Canal+ made it the common thread of its latest advertising campaigns.
The end of recess is therefore approaching and the “roommate” of SVOD codes will be made for cold hard cash.