Netflix password sharing in the United States: extra member slot costs more than the cheapest plan

Netflix announced today that it has started to impose restrictions on account password sharing in the United States after having postponed the launch previously.

Netflix reiterates in the notification that "a Netflix account is for use by one household" and that all users of a household may stream Netflix everywhere. The second part is not entirely true, as Netflix does have restrictions in place regarding simultaneous access to content.

With account password sharing restrictions in place, Netflix adds another barrier for members of an household.

The company's main aim is password sharing beyond households. Friends who pay together for an account, families who let their children who attend college watch Netflix using the same account, are affected by the decision.

The message that Netflix is sending out informs households about the new password sharing restrictions. Interestingly, Netflix's message does not accuse customers of sharing passwords with non-household members.

The first two sentences explain that a Netflix account is for members of the household only, but that it is possible to watch Netflix while traveling or on the go.

Netflix goes on to explain how customers can manage devices, and that they may check whether unauthorized devices are using the account. Changing the password may be an option to prevent future access to content.

The company then lists two options for customers who want to share Netflix content with others who are not a member of the primary household.

Customers may either purchase an extra member, which costs $7.99 in the United States, or use the new transfer a profile option to transfer a Netflix profile to a brand new profile by creating a new account and paying for membership for that account.

To put this into perspective. Netflix's cheapest account is available for $6.99 per month in the United States. It is the standard with ads plan, which offers most Netflix content but comes with advertisement.

Netflix launched ad supported plans earlier and has seen subscribers rise to nearly 5 million already, including over 1 million in the United States.

Netflix account sharing and extra member slots

Extra member slots can only be added to Netflix's Standard and Premium plans. The slots are limited as Standard users may add one and Premium users two extra slots to their accounts. The price, $7.99 per extra member slot, is then added to the monthly charge of the account holder.

Netflix assigns a primary location to each account to determine outside access. The company has not revealed specifics on how it determines this, but IP addresses and other information provided by customer devices may reveal location information to the company.

Netflix's crackdown on password sharing is reducing the number of subscribers, at least initially. In Spain, Netflix lost about 1 million subscribers since it introduced the password sharing restrictions.

The company hopes that some of these customers will come back after a while.

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