Netflix will soon be cracking down on password-sharing in the United States soon. According to a report via Variety, the change will be coming sometime this quarter.
“In Q1, we launched paid sharing in four countries and are pleased with the results,” Netflix said in its Q1 letter to shareholders. “We are planning on a broad rollout, including in the U.S., in Q2.”
The four countries that Netflix has used to beta-test its paid-sharing program are Canada, New Zealand, Spain, and Portugal. The new plan allows someone with a Netflix account to add one or two other households for a joint account, at an extra monthly fee.
The paid-sharing program will debut in Q2 in the “vast majority” of countries where Netflix offers service, co-CEO Greg Peters said in the earnings interview, with pricing varying by market.
However, the media giant believes that Canada will be a “reliable predictor” for how the United States will soon operate and has since gotten positive results from Canadian subscription holders. According to the publication, the “paid membership base is now larger than prior to the launch of paid sharing.”
Last year, Netflix estimated that there are 100 million non-paying households worldwide.
“A Netflix account is meant to be shared in one household (people who live in the same location with the account owner),” the company says on its site. “People who are not in your household will need to sign up for their own account to watch Netflix.”
The streamer has not given an official date on when households are still sharing passwords and not using the paid-sharing account will be penalized. Peters admitted in a Q4 of last year that the company's decision to end password-sharing would not be a “universally popular move.”
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