Netflix announced it would make a “broad rollout” of its shared compensation plan in the second quarter of 2023, including in the United States. The streaming giant provided the news as part of its earnings report for the first quarter of 2023. The question is what will happen in Argentina and other countries.
As part of Netflix’s crackdown on customers sharing passwords with people outside their household, the company plans to begin blocking devices (after a certain amount of time) that attempt to access a Netflix account without paying properly .
“In the first quarter, we rolled out shared compensation in four countries and are pleased with the results,” Netflix said in its Q1 shareholder letter. “We are planning for a broad rollout, including in the US, in the second quarter.”
The four markets it refers to are Canada, New Zealand, and Portugal SpainNetflix launched a “buy an additional member” option in February, allowing primary account holders to pay an additional monthly fee for a secondary account for 1-2 people who don’t live with them. This came after Netflix launched payshare trials in three Latin American countries (Chile, Costa Rica and Peru) last year.
“A Netflix account is meant to be shared across a household (people who live in the same place as the account owner),” the company says in the customer support section of its site. “People who aren’t at home will need to sign in to their account to watch Netflix”. However, Netflix subscribers can continue to access the service while traveling through their personal devices or by accessing a new TV (for example, in a hotel or a rental, while on vacation).
A year ago, Netflix estimated password sharing is a violation of its rules with more than 100 million non-paying households worldwide. It was then that the company told investors it was focusing on generating revenue from users sharing passwords.
Possible cancellations?
Netflix said it expected the move to convert users with passwords into paying members would result in a high volume of cancellations, impacting subscriber growth in the near term. “This is not going to be a universally popular move,” Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in his Q4 2022 earnings interview, likening it to an increase in the churn rate when the company raised prices on its streaming plans. .
But Netflix added 1.75 million net new subscribers in the first quarter, compared to 7.66 million it gained in the final quarter of 2022, the period during which its low-cost, ad-supported tier was launched. disclosed the company. Useful results 2023.
From January 1 to March 30, it was the first full quarter with Netflix’s ad-filled option available to subscribers. The streamer ended the period with a global subscriber total of 232.50 million.
Source: Clarin
