Netflix.Photo:NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Netflix’s controversial new password sharing policy may not be popular — but it does appear to be working.
On May 23, the streamer launched its paid password-sharing feature in the US. The new policy — which requires all account users to be in the same household and reside in the same location as the “primary account owner” — was created to boost subscriptions and curb password-sharing between users who don’t live together.
Netflix sign in.Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty
According todata from the research firm Antenna, Netflix averaged 73,000 daily sign-ups from May 23 to May 28, marking a +102% increase from its previous 60-day average. Additionally, the streamer saw almost 100,000 daily sign-ups on both May 26 and May 27.
These figures surpassed even the sign-up spikes that Antenna saw during the early U.S. Covid-19 lockdowns in March and April 2020, when users were all inside and bingingTiger King.
During this period, Netflix had the four single largest days for U.S. user acquisition since the research company first began tracking the streamer back in 2019.
Cancellations also increased, but not to the same extent that subscriptions did.
Netflix rolled out its paid sharing feature in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain in February.
Netflix profiles.
This has created concern and confusion about how it could impact, for example, college students who live away from home, people who travel frequently or families with multiple homes. Subscribers now have the option to buy an “extra member,” priced at an additional$7.99a month in the U.S., to cover users who don’t live with them but still wish to use that account.
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source: people.com
