Attention to anyone still using the Netflix account belonging to an ex-boyfriend, a friendly neighbor or a former roommate: the good times are coming to an end. Netflix is rolling out some experiments designed to close the door on mooching off other people’s Netflix accounts, though whether or not this will coincide with actually improving their content remains to be seen.
“Accounts are being shared between households — impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members,” wrote Chengyi Long, Netflix’s director of product innovation. Well, more likely, it’s impacting the number of zeroes at the end of the brass’ paychecks, but be that as it may, the boom is lowering.
Netflix is rolling out a new feature in Costa Rica, Chile and Peru that allows households to share one account …for a price. These “subaccounts” will cost a couple bucks each, and will come with their own profile and password. It won’t be in the U.S. yet but depending on the international market rollout goes, don’t be surprised if it shows up here, too. Each account will be limited to a max of two subaccounts.
This comes on the heels of Netflix’s subscription price boost in January, which raised the monthly fee for a basic plan from $9 to $10, the standard from $14 to $15.50 and the premium from $18 t0 $20. If that move impacted the bottom dollar, it didn’t show. Netflix saw its number of subscribers grow 10 percent in 2021, up to 221.8 million. It seems like the company can pretty much charge what it wants now, as a growing number of households consider Netflix as indispensable as an alarm clock. But if they’re going to keep raising prices, we’d better get the next season of Stranger Things soon.