Tech

Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown in the US hasn’t happened yet


After Netflix spends pilot year distinctive way To break password sharing, change it US Help Center Page This week seems to indicate that the streaming giant has finally settled on a plan. But those adjustments quickly disappear, leaving confused and worried about potential changes to Netflix’s account sharing policy. Now the company is clarifying that nothing has changed this week and no new restrictions are in place right now.

“For a brief time on Tuesday, a Help Center article containing information applicable only to Chile, Costa Rica and Peru appeared in other countries. We’ve since updated it,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement.

However, the death knell for password sharing is still very serious, after the company said in its recent earnings call that it will announce and begin rolling out changes to account sharing around the world in the first quarter of 2023.

“We have people watching Netflix who aren’t paying us for essentially borrowing someone else’s login information. And our goal this year is to fundamentally solve that situation and convert many of them into premium accounts or let the account owners pay for them,” CEO and Director Netflix products, Gregory Peters said in the company’s most recent report. earnings call on Jan. 19. “So we’ve been working on this and trying to do some thoughtful testing for members to discuss with us the suite of solutions that work for them. . … We’re ready to roll those out by the end of the quarter. We’re going to stagger that a bit as we sort out the work of the countries, but we’ll really see that happen over the next few quarters.”

The confusion about possible changes this week stems from content for one country’s help center page that was mistakenly published to other countries. The situation is also complicated by the fact that the Netflix Help Center pages allow you to quickly switch between information for different countries by using the “Now viewing information for” tool for allows you to select the country name from the drop-down menu.

For almost a year, Netflix has pilot an approach in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, where the company is more serious about tying each account to a physical location or “household” and allowing only devices that frequently access the account from that location. that point. To do this, the company says it uses “IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity” to determine where devices are streaming content. A key component of the initiative in the three countries is add a paid share or “add an extra member” mechanism, similar to the family plans offered by streaming services like Spotify, where Netflix subscribers can pay a discounted rate to family members or friends access the shared account with their own login information.

Based on comments made by Netflix executives during a recent earnings call, it looks like similar changes are likely to come to the US and other markets. However, the specifics of what Netflix will roll out in each country are still unclear.

“Netflix is ​​a company built on fervent fans and is very consumer focused, so it’s important to have flexibility in whatever it does with the tough cases. important to them, and adding restrictions can create friction,” said Jason Kint, CEO of the digital company. media trade organization Digital Content Next. (WIRED’s parent company Condé Nast is a member.) “They don’t want to create detractors criticizing their service. But in the end, those are still business decisions. … Their move will have a downstream impact on the decisions of other companies.”

During the January earnings call, Netflix executives emphasized that they are preparing to respond as they prepare for a password-sharing crackdown. “I think it’s remarkable that this is not going to be a universal move,” Peters said. “There will be existing members who are not happy with this move. We’ll see a bit of an abort reaction to that. We think of this similar to what we see when we raise prices.”

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