Netflix is a streaming giant yet it failed to garner as many subscribers as it targeted in the recent fourth economic quarter. A major hurdle for Netflix and any streaming service for that matter has always been password sharing. Companies may not acknowledge it but people share their passwords with friends and sometimes they even divide the subscription charge. Due to this, they lose a major potential of subscribers and ultimately resulting in losing money.
So Netflix came up with a solution to charge extra money from those who share their Netflix password outside their household. This is not an implemented rule as it is currently under experimentation.
In Peru, Costa Rica, and Chile, Netflix is running the test.
Netflix’s director of product innovation Chengyi Long wrote, “We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans. While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households – impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members.”
But take the case of Netflix India for instance. They are the most expensive streaming platform in India still nothing close to delivering the content that Indians deserve. Needless to say, the issue of password sharing is not suffered by Netflix alone but other platforms do manage to make series like The Family Man, Rocket Boys and Aarya.
But the practicality of this decision getting implemented effectively is questionable. Quite obviously there will be loopholes and streamers will definitely manage to hunt them.
Talking specifically about the Indian market, Netflix’s priority should be to create more and better original films/shows than they are currently.