One of the policies Netflix, It has always been to share the account. One person paid the subscription and could share this account with up to three other friends or acquaintances. Even, not long ago, even the company itself talked about it in its own series. However, the arrival of stiff competition has caused revenues to drop. And, to remedy this, its managers have taken two measures: raise prices and limit the main function that prevents 3 out of 4 users from paying their fee: shared accounts.
We have been seeing for a few weeks how Netflix is carrying out a crusade against shared accounts. In addition to many back-to-back price hikes, the platform has talked about various ideas to mitigate the impact of shared accounts. For example, charge extra for each additional account, or have more control over the locations from which content is played. They have also added new features to make it easier to migrate account data, and have launched a new, cheaper plan for those who don’t want to pay the full subscription.
But this has only just begun. And it is that Netflix is working on another novelty that only shows, once again, that account sharing is about to end.
You can expel anyone from your account
Netflix has just announced the launch of a new access and device management panel. With it, we will be able to see which computers, mobile phones or televisions are logged in, and close all those that we do not know.
Obviously this function is not intended, as Netflix says, to allow the user to control where they are logged in, but rather to give more control over the accounts by the time the shared accounts are hacked. What’s more, if we look at the previous screenshot, taken from the Netflix website, they are clearly using a shared account.
At the moment we do not know when it will be activated for all users. If we believe that our account is being used without permission, right now we only have the ability to sign out on all devices at once. After changing the password, we will have to start again in all of them.
Trouble in sight
Of course, this new feature was not going to be without problems. And it is that only the main user of the account You will be able to manage the devices. This means that the person who pays will have control over whether or not you can access the account with your devices. If for some reason it decides that your mobile, or television, cannot use Netflix, it will simply expel you and you will not be able to enter again.
With this, as with the function of exporting the account (which, again, the payer can choose whether to allow it or not) Netflix wants to generate frustration and mistrust among those who share an account. However, the savings compared to paying the individual subscription, even the cheap one without ads, is still very profitable.
For this reason, at the beginning of 2023, specifically before the second quarter (by the time Netflix’s fiscal first quarter begins), it is likely that “the bad news” will arrive and shared accounts will either go down in history, or be able to share them. complicate a lot. Time will tell.
