One of the issues that streaming companies have yet to resolve is password sharing. In the world of linear cable, every household needed a cable subscription. But, when it comes to streaming, people have rather large “families” that can include exes, roommates, friends of friends of friends.
Netflix has not done anything to effectively police this except to set limits on simultaneous streaming. Their Basic plan ($8.99) allows streaming on a single device, while the Standard plan ($12.99) offers streaming on up to 2 devices, and the Premium plan ($15.99) on up to 4 devices. However, they don’t limit you on the number of devices a single account can be logged into.
There has been talk that companies will be become more aggressive on password sharing, as the industry becomes more mature. However, it doesn’t seem that Netflix has any concrete plans to make immediate changes.
According to Chief Product Officer Greg Peters, “We continue to monitor it. So we’re looking at the situation (and look into) consumer friendly ways to push on the edges.” At this point though, Peters says Netflix has “no big plans” to announce in terms of doing something different.
But at some point, this will likely change. Research firm Magid once measured that 35 percent of millennials share passwords for streaming. With Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, HBO Max, and Peacock all competing for subscribers — every additional sub just means more revenue for streaming services.