Brandy Andersen moves to a new city every three months, packing her Jeep with clothes, food supplies, a box fan, and a small TV. Andersen has been a traveling emergency room nurse for the past three years, working in Brooklyn, Boston, and Washington, D.C., and is now situated in a rural section of Northern California.
But her home, husband, and primary Netflix address are all in Midland, Georgia, thousands of miles away.
Andersen is one of several longtime Netflix customers who are concerned about the company’s new crackdown on password sharing, which went into effect this week in the United States and would prevent her from streaming when traveling. After years of ignoring and even encouraging password sharing, Netflix is now requiring anyone using a Netflix log-in at a different location for more than 31 days to create a new account or pay $7.99 per month to be linked to the original account.
Netflix customers have flocked to social media to express their displeasure with the new policy, with some threatening to quit or move to competitors with less stringent sharing rules, such as Disney Plus and Max.
“I’m not paying eight more dollars, I’m just not,” adds Andersen, who intends to terminate her $19.99 monthly premium package. “I’m already paying a lot. I understand that the price has to rise over time — that didn’t bother me — but to suggest that I can’t use it for myself now? That’s insane.”
Can Netflix survive the backlash?
Netflix did not rush into this proposal, which is likely to have resulted in some public outrage and the loss of some subscribers. Last year, the corporation began testing enforcement in smaller markets before launching it in Canada this year. Analysts estimate a minor level of turnover, which will most likely be temporary.
“In every market, there’s an initial outrage,” says Rich Greenfield, a media analyst at LightShed Partners. “Then they put out a piece of content that people can’t live without, [and] two months later, their numbers are up.”
Wedbush Securities asked current and recent Netflix subscribers what they would do if there was a crackdown in an April study. Around 40% stated they had no plans to change their subscription, 30% said they would join or form a family or group plan, and 15% said they would cancel or leave Netflix.
“It appears that only the squeaky wheels are venting their rage online.” “I assume most are just piggybackers who are irritated that they have to pay,” said Alicia Reese, a Wedbush equity research analyst.
The crackdown has not enraged all Netflix subscribers. Some were pleased that the corporation was going after “freeloaders,” especially if it meant more income for their favorite shows or a reduction in their own monthly bills. According to Netflix, 100 million people worldwide stream using borrowed accounts.
“We subscribers are getting either higher rates or fewer services than we would have gotten if the freeloaders had paid the subscription fee,” noted Diane Averill of Pittsburgh in an email. “And because Netflix employees might get better pay if the company was more profitable, a lot of people could be cheated by the cheaters.”
Netflix declined to comment on the user reaction.
“This is an important transition for us, and we’re working hard to make sure we do it well and thoughtfully as possible,” Netflix co-CEO and director Gregory Peters said during the company’s recent earnings call. He explained that in countries where the new policy has been implemented, the company often sees an initial number of cancellations followed by password borrowers joining up for their own accounts and members paying for more people.
What is next for affected streamers?
Some folks are in situations where paying additional money is simply not an option. For example, paying members who split their time between many locations, whether for business, a vacation home, or family reasons.
However, many of those who received notices are likely to be the people Netflix is looking for: parents sharing accounts with college students, adult children sharing accounts with their older parents, and friend groups splitting the costs of a few memberships.
Ammy Woodbury and her pals invested in a premium Netflix account several years ago. She understands that the company believes its business model is no longer viable, but the shift forced the group to cancel.
“I think we’ll subscribe for a month or two a year to catch up on ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Wednesday’ and watch some movies.” But then we’ll shut it down,” said Woodbury, 49, of Santa Clara, California. “They forced me to consider how much I value them, and the answer is clearly less than $10 per month, and probably less than $50 per year.”
Sarah Taylor reluctantly agreed to pay the extra sum when the new alternatives were first introduced in Canada in February. She gives her retired parents access to her account so they can watch “Bridgerton” and British crime dramas. When Netflix later informed Taylor that she needed to upgrade her basic account in order to be eligible for new members, Taylor informed the business that she was leaving for good.
A customer service person advised her that if she streams for a few minutes from her smartphone, drives 25 minutes to her parents’ house, streams from her phone on their WiFi, and eventually logs them back into her account from their TV, she could maintain sharing her account.
“They’re insane,” says Taylor. “A lot of people are going to unsubscribe from Netflix.” Many people I know have.”
It’s less about the money for Courtney Levin and more about Netflix breaking an unspoken commitment. Levin also pays for an account she shares with her elderly parents, which she intends to close.
What are Netflix’s password sharing policies?
While Netflix has been discussing password intentions since last year, the notifications that began trickling out this week in the United States went into action immediately, which caught some consumers off guard. Many people were perplexed about how the firm planned to enforce the strategy and were astonished to learn that it applied to them. So far, here’s what we know:
- According to Netflix, an account can only be used by members of one physical home who share one internet connection. Additional members logging in from other locations can be added for $7.99 per month.
- For the time being, the limits appear to apply exclusively to televisions and not mobile devices. After successfully logging in on a smartphone or tablet, you should be able to stream from anywhere.
- You can still travel for up to a month without incident. To avoid being logged out of their accounts, people will need to connect at the primary location once every 31 days.
- You can modify your residence location if you are moving or will be away for more than 31 days.
- It makes no difference what tier you pay for or why you are away from your permanent address. There are no exclusions for more uncommon instances, such as deployed military personnel.
- Netflix primarily employs IP addresses to determine where users are signing in, but it also uses device IDs and account activity.
It infers your home base location, however you may manually set your household location from Netflix on a TV by heading to Get Help Manage Netflix Household. - Extra members can only be added to the more expensive basic and premium plans, and the number of additional members is limited. (One additional member on standard, two members on premium.)
