Netflix Reportedly Considered Pay-Per-View Rentals as Way to End Password Sharing; Will Step Up Other Efforts in 2023
If you’re one of the 100 million people around the world that Netflix estimates is using someone else’s password to watch its content, beware. The time is fast approaching when you will be asked to subscribe yourself, or risk incurring the wrath of the paying subscriber you borrow from.
Netflix announced in October that it would crack down on password sharing in 2023, so this shouldn’t be a surprise. However, a new report from the Wall Street Journal gives more details about the effort to curb password sharing and insights into the difficulties that Netflix has had in implementing its plans around the world and domestically.
Netflix first began exploring ways to end password sharing in 2019, but when the COVID-19 pandemic brought a fresh wave of paid subscribers, the service left the issue alone. But when 2022 began with two straight quarters of subscriber losses, the problem of password sharing took center stage at the company again. Since then, the streaming giant has been brainstorming ways to end the practice, while trying to mitigate blowback from media and consumers.
Its solutions to the problem have ranged from standard to fairly creative. The WSJ reports that Netflix even considered adding pay-per-view rentals of certain content, much like Prime Video does, in order to make paying users more reticent to share a password with someone who might run up their bill with such purchases. Ultimately, that idea was nixed in the name of keeping the service from becoming too complicated.
Instead of this scheme, Netflix will likely send users outside the subscriber’s home a message prompting them to sign up for their own account. If they do not, the paid subscriber will be charged an extra monthly fee to continue sharing their password. This idea faces challenges of its own, such as how Netflix can be sure the extra device using an account belongs to another person, and is not simply a new device being accessed by the paying subscriber in a new location like a hotel room.
There is still no date announced for the full introduction of Netflix’s anti-password sharing measures, but the WSJ reports the company is still targeting early 2023 for the domestic rollout. In November, the service launched a new feature that allowed users to see what devices were using their profile, and sign out of whichever ones they chose. Netflix also launched a lower-priced ad-supported tier on Nov. 3, which it hopes will soften the blow of its password sharing crackdown by giving users who weren’t previously paying a cheaper landing spot.
Regardless of the lower-priced tier, Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing is likely to be extremely unpopular — as it has been internationally — at least initially. Consumers should be wary, because if Netflix finds success in its endeavor to end password sharing, other streaming services will undoubtedly look to bring a stop to the practice on their platforms as well.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.