Users in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain now have to pay to give people they don’t live with access to their account, after similar rules were trialled in Latin America in 2022.
The development comes one week after Netflix inadvertently updated its “Sharing your account” help centre pages for Australia and other nations with information that was only relevant to the three Latin American countries undergoing a “paid sharing” trial, giving users a sneak peek of the restrictions that are likely to find their way Down Under by the end of March.
“For a brief time, a help centre article containing information that is only applicable to Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, went live in other countries. We have since updated it,” Netflix said in a statement to 9news.com.au.
The help pages were quickly reverted to their previous state, but the changes still provide an indication as to what Australian subscribers could be in for in the near future.
When is the password-sharing crackdown coming to Australia?
In its earnings on January 20, Netflix said it expects to roll out paid sharing “more broadly” in the first quarter of 2023, so there’s a good chance Australians will be affected by the new rules by the end of March.
In its shareholder letter, Netflix said it expects some people to cancel their accounts in response to the move, but that it will ultimately lead to more revenue.
“From our experience in Latin America, we expect some cancel reaction in each market when we roll out paid sharing, which impacts near-term member growth,” the letter reads.
“But as borrower households begin to activate their own standalone accounts and extra member accounts are added, we expect to see improved overall revenue, which is our goal with all plan and pricing changes.”
How much do Netflix users have to pay to share their account?
In countries where Netflix has activated its new rules for paid password or account sharing, subscribers to Netflix’s Standard or Premium plans will be able to pay for up to two people outside of their household to use their account.
The fee is less than that of starting a new, separate account, and ranges from country to country.
The cost of adding a new person is $C7.99 in Canada ($8.56), $NZ7.99 in New Zealand ($7.28), and €3.99 ($6.17) and €5.99 ($9.27) in Portugal and Spain respectively.
How does Netflix know if you’re sharing an account?
As part of the latest changes, users in the four countries will be asked to set a “primary location,” which ensures that all members of a household watch from the same account.
A new “manage access and devices” page will allow members to more easily control who has access.
One of the measures employed in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru is requiring users to connect a device to their home Wi-Fi and watch something at least once every 31 days to prevent that device from being blocked and having to re-verify before streaming again.
Netflix says it uses information including IP address and device IDs to determine whether someone is watching in their “primary location”.
Users will still be able to access their accounts from their tablets or phones, or from new TVs when they travel, Netflix said.
Nine, the publisher of this website, owns streaming service Stan, which is a competitor to Netflix.
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