Content streaming giant Netflix on Wednesday, July 19 announced a surge in the number of its subscribers, thanks to its password crackdown.
According to the company, it amassed about 5.9 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2023, pushing its tally to 238.4 million.
By December 2022, Netflix had 221.8 million subscribers out of which more 100 million households were using shared passwords.
At the same time, the firm recorded a profit of $1.5 billion during the same period under review, from $ 1.31 billion between January and March.
Password Crackdown
Netflix plans to increase revenue by imposing a ban on account and password sharing in more countries worldwide.
The ban will take effect in India, Croatia, Indonesia and Kenya from, Thursday, July 20, 2023.
Noteworthy, the company first hinted at imposing the ban in December 2022, and it will affect account holders with shared passwords.
However, the ban will not affect members who share their passwords with people from within their household.
Also Read: Sigh of Relief as Netflix Reduces Subscription Fees for Kenya, Sub-Saharan Africa
In such cases, the firm will provide subscribers with special features like Transfer Profile and Manage Access and Devices to allow them to continue sharing passwords.
Also, Netflix will be sending emails to those sharing accounts outside their immediate family.
Cost of Sharing Netflix Password
In a blog post on May 23, the popular video streamer stated that it intends to charge an extra cost for multiple users sharing account adding that they do not have any intention of shutting them down.
“If you have got a sister, let’s say, that’s living in a different city, you want to share Netflix with her, that’s great,” said Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters.
“We are not trying to shut down that sharing, but we’re going to ask you to pay a bit more to be able to share with her and so that she gets the benefit and the value of the service, but we also get the revenue associated with that viewing.”
Netflix will now charge an extra $ 7.99 per month for those who intend to share password.
Test in other countries
The first tested the ban in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru where it charged an extra 25 percent on the standard account in each country for any shared account.
In February 2023, Netflix rolled out the crackdown in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain to mark the beginning of the rollout worldwide.
Also Read: Netflix to cancel dormant accounts
Netflix Subscribers
According to Forbes, Netflix lost nearly a million subscribers between April and July 2022 as people decided to quit the service.
That year, the organization introduced advertisement streaming on the app for users would pay less.
In Kenya, a mobile package costs Ksh.200, a basic package 400, standard package 700 and a premium package Ksh.1,100.
