Skip to main content

Pay up! Netflix begins account sharing crackdown in the U.S.

Netflix account sharing email.
Phil Nickinson/Digital Trends

Netflix today announced that it’s going to start notifying subscribers in the U.S. who are sharing passwords that it’s time to pay up — $8, to be precise. The world’s largest streaming service says it’s sending emails to “members who are sharing Netflix outside their household” that will detail their options.

Known as “extra member slots,” the extra $8 will allow the former freeloaders to watch Netflix on one device at a time, and download content onto a single device at a time for offline viewing. They’ll also have their own profile, but cannot create additional profiles. (The profile can be transferred from the main account, also known as the “home account.”) And the extra member has to live in the same country as the home account.

One other catch — in order to purchase the “extra member slots,” you’ll have to be billed by Netflix directly. If you’re paying through your wireless provider or some other system, you’re out of luck.

“We recognize that our members have many entertainment choices,” Netflix wrote in the news post announcing the long-expected change. “It’s why we continue to invest heavily in a wide variety of new films and TV shows — so whatever your taste, mood or language and whoever you’re watching with, there’s always something satisfying to watch on Netflix.”

The account sharing crackdown comes months after Netflix first said it was stop its long-standing policy of nodding and winking at (if not outright condoning) sharing your account — also known as “password sharing” — with someone who’s not actually in the home of the person who owns the account. While there certainly are instances where that maybe could be considered legitimate — such as an adult child who’s away at college and doesn’t have the income for a full Netflix account — there were some 100 million accounts being shared worldwide, and that simply had become too big a number for Netflix to ignore any longer, especially as streaming services no longer can sit back and watch their revenue streams continue to climb every quarter.

Netflix ended the first quarter of 2023 with 232.5 million subscribers globally.

Editors' Recommendations

Phil Nickinson
Phil spent the 2000s making newspapers with the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, the 2010s with Android Central and then the…
Netflix screwed up, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong
The Netflix logo in app.

If there’s one thing beloved by folks on the internet, it’s getting something for free. Free news. Free music. Free porn. Free status updates. Free photos. And, yes, free movies.

Netflix’s original sin — allowing the unfettered sharing of accounts — is what put the company in the position it’s in today, with more than 100 million "households" sharing accounts. (For context, the company said it has 230.75 million paid memberships at the end of 2022.) The status quo “undermines our long-term ability to invest and improve Netflix, as well as build our business,” Netflix wrote in its quarterly letter to shareholders.

Read more
Netflix to expand paid password sharing in Q1
Netflix app icon on Apple TV.

If you're still freeloading on someone else's Netflix account, it might soon be time to pay up. Netflix, in its quarterly earnings statement, said today that it plans to expand its "paid sharing" scheme by the end of March 2023.

The gist, for those who haven't run into the changes already, is that one Netflix account is good for one home. But you'll be able to buy additional homes for a few bucks a month — less than it'd cost for a full Netflix account.

Read more
Sharp is bringing one of the first OLED Roku TVs to the U.S. in 2023
Sharp OLED TV.

Sharp has been on the fringes of the U.S. TV market for several years, but that might be about to change. The company, which is still headquartered in Japan ,but has been majority-owned by Chinese manufacturing giant Foxconn since 2016, has announced that it plans to sell a Roku-powered 4K OLED TV in the U.S. in spring 2023. It could be the first opportunity for people to buy a Roku TV with an OLED panel. The company will also introduce its latest mini-LED-powered QLED TV, the Aquos XLED.

Sharp's Japan-only DS1 OLED TV Sharp

Read more