According to new data from streaming analytics company Antenna, Netflix’s long-awaited assault on password sharing in the United States resulted in an influx of new subscribers in its early days.
The streaming colossus accumulated more new U.S. subscriptions between May 25 and May 28 than in any other four-day period since Antenna began compiling such data in 2019.
The influx of new users indicates that Netflix’s decision to terminate password sharing has been successful. According to the company, more than 100 million individuals around the world use borrowed passwords to access Netflix content.
The company’s recent action required users who share an account outside of the same household to pay an additional $7.99 per month to view and limited the number of additional members customers could add to their account based on the service tier they subscribe to.
The monthly cost of sharing is $2 less than a basic subscription and $1 more than the ad-supported plan, which Netflix introduced late last year in an effort to increase revenue and appeal to price-conscious customers.
Antenna utilises third-party services that acquire consumer information with permission from sources such as online purchase receipts, bills, and banking records; however, its data do not include subscriptions offered in bundles. A Netflix representative refused to comment.
For the first time in its history, Netflix experienced two consecutive quarters of subscriber declines in the past year. In recent quarters, the company’s subscriber base has begun to develop again, albeit at a much slower rate than in the early days of the pandemic. The company has delayed its initiative to crack down on password sharing for years, despite Netflix’s internal researchers identifying the issue as a significant issue in 2019, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Account sharing “undermines our ability to invest in and improve Netflix for our paying members, as well as build our business,” the company said in its shareholder letter for the first quarter.
Netflix has already implemented password sharing in international markets such as Canada, Spain, Portugal, and New Zealand.
