Tech

Netflix tests a new system to charge more for shared accounts

Every day it seems clearer that Netflix has a problem with the income it generates. It is the most popular streaming service, as well as the dean globally. However, the growing competition that it faces, and which in many cases has also resulted in losing content that has gone to its new rivals, seems to be taking its toll, and I’m not just saying this because of its income statements, but also because of the movements and declarations of the last months.

As we already told you in October, we had a price increase in Spain, and when we are still recovering from it, we have already seen how Netflix rates rose again in the United States last January, and only two months later of this, this increase has “jumped the pond”, reaching the United Kingdom, which should make us think that in a short time, that jump will be replicated, but this time from the UK to Europe.

Simultaneously, Netflix continues to pursue shared accounts and, at least for now, is not considering new cheaper subscriptions, partially financed by advertising, something that we are beginning to see in other services. And now it seems that the “problem” of shared accounts is going to attack again, as we can read on the company’s blog, in which they tell us that they are going to start testing a new way to increase the income they receive from shared accounts.

Netflix’s legal terms state that accounts can be shared, but only between people residing in the same dwelling. However, the most common is to share them between family and friends who have different addresses. This is not exclusive to Netflix, many other services impose similar limitations, although it is true that they pursue them with much less zeal than shown by Netflix.

Netflix tests a new system to charge more for shared accounts

Thus, the new Netflix proposal, which At the moment it will be tested in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, proposes users to create subaccounts, dependent on the main account, but for users who do not share residence. These accounts will be cheaper than a normal account, but despite this they will have their own credentials and, for the purpose of accessing content, they will work in a completely similar way to independent accounts.

Netflix subaccounts, in this testing phase, will have a price of 2,380 pesos (2.70 euros) in Chile, 2.99 dollars in Costa Rica and 7.9 soles (1.92 euros) in Peru. In comparison, the prices of a basic account in these countries are 5,940 pesos in Chile, 8.99 dollars in Costa Rica and 24.90 soles in Peru, so we are talking about substantially lower prices, which could convince some users to opt for this modality.

An important detail, yes, is that at least for now subaccounts cannot be billed separately, but will go to the same charge as the main account. And what will be possible, if your user wishes at some point, is to unlink the subaccount from a main account, although from that point on its price will rise to that of the standard account.

I have my doubts about how the community will accept this Netflix proposal for shared accounts. And it is that on the one hand prices seem quite competitive, and the possibility of each user having their own set of credentials is a good idea. However, I have serious doubts about whether users will be willing to pay more for something that, although pursued by the platform, is what they already have today.

What do you think? If you are a Netflix subscriber and you share your account, would you consider contracting sub-accounts with this new model?

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