Shared Netflix accounts were a big claim to subscribe to the streaming service. But they do have an expiration date. After a few months of testing in some countries, the company will close the tap worldwide in 2023 and the user who wants to keep them you will need to pay extra fee.
This was announced by the company in the presentation of financial results for the fourth quarter that have exceeded investor expectations and also Netflix’s own forecasts, with 7,850 million dollars in income and more than 7 million subscribers added for a total of 230.7 million. Netflix leads the world in streaming services for movies and series, followed by Disney with 220 million, but in this case adding all its platforms, Disney+, Hulu, Star and ESPN+.
It must be said that these financial results, where Netflix changes the trend of subscriber losses, are the first after the launch of the new cheap subscription plan in exchange for advertising. No specific data on its influence has been provided, but it is certain that it has been fundamental in reversing the fall in subscribers of previous quarters.
Also comment on other news that was already announced and that should not be reflected in the general strategy established in advance: The co-founder of Netflix, Reed Hastings, left his position as CEO yesterday although he will continue to serve as executive president. The current co-CEO and chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, will remain in the role and will be joined in the same position by Greg Peters, who until now led the company’s operations division.
Goodbye to shared Netflix accounts (without paying)
It was sung. You know what this is about. You subscribe to the service and you can share your account for free with your son or your cousin, whether they are at your home or outside it. Or you agree with a group of friends, contract an account and pay it together. It really is a feature that almost all services offer and not just multimedia content. A Microsoft 365 ‘family’ subscription lets you do the same.
On Netflix it will end very soon. The company says that shared Netflix accounts reach 100 million households and that this “it undermines our long-term ability to invest and improve, as well as build our business”, they point out in the presentation of results. Everything indicates that the plan started on a trial basis in some Latin American countries, with payment of an additional fee of $2.99 (for two additional homes and two devices) will be the one that will be imposed worldwide, presumably from of April.
Netflix is aware that with this measure will lose subscribers, but he trusts that users of shared accounts value his content and at the same time pay for their own subscriptions. Netflix will make it easy with a migration tool that will allow you to transfer your profile to a new account.
We will see what happens when the measure is implemented worldwide. The general problem is not the end of shared Netflix accounts. It is that the amount of this type of services has increased so much that consumers They don’t have the budget to pay for all of them.. And they are not only series and movies. Add music; video game; cloud storage; edition; productivity… We will have to select and a lot.
