Netflix confirms date to stop free password sharing?

Netflix to stop subscribers from sharing passwords soon.

Netflix to add surcharge for sharing passwords. (AFP)

Netflix may well have confirmed the timeline to begin cracking down on password sharing. The video streaming giant is likely to scrap the password sharing feature by the end of 2022. As reported by New York Times, Netflix executives in a note shared that the crackdown on password sharing is likely to begin in the last three months of 2022 i.e, October.

It was previously reported that Netflix was testing adding a surcharge to the subscribers who share their account details with other households. This was first tried in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru where a surcharge of $2.99 was added to accounts that wanted to share their credentials outside the household. And now the same is likely to be rolled out to every territory where Netflix operates.

This decision was taken after Netflix revealed that it lost nearly 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of the year. This has happened for the first time in a decade and shockingly, the company expected to lose two million more in the coming months. As a result, Netflix's share price fell by more than $54 billion.

In a letter to shareholders as part of Q1 revenue results back in April, Netflix executives stated that around 100 million users shared a password with another account. So, despite Netflix's 221M paying subscribers, the actual number should be much higher. Not only this but the streaming giant also revealed that it would begin offering a lower-priced subscription featuring ads by the end of 2022. This means users will get a Netflix subscription at a lower price, however, it would feature commercial ads. As of now Netflix contents are ad free.

How will Netflix free password sharing service crackdown can affect you?

As soon as this policy is rolled out, sharing your Netflix account with anybody outside of where you live will cost you more. You'll have to pay a surcharge to have Netflix on a device in someone else's home.