Netflix confirms password-sharing will cost subscribers additional fees starting in 2023

Netflix has been quite busy with the imminent launch of its ad-supported tier next month, but the company has not abandoned plans to address password-sharing. In an earnings call on Tuesday, the streaming giant confirmed it will introduce new payment options that will essentially cost additional fees for account owners, who are sharing their passwords with family and friends.

The company made its stance on password-sharing clearer throughout 2022 by testing new payment options for accounts being used by people not living in the same household. Netflix started testing the Add an Extra Member fee in March followed by the Add a Home option in July in select countries, and it appears that the result of these experiments will start rolling out next year.

Netflix has yet to provide details on how much password-sharing will cost account owners next year, but payment options that were tested earlier this year could provide some clues. The Add an Extra Member and Add a Home options required subscribers (in countries where they were tested) to pay between $2 to $3 for each person or separate household using their account.

"We've tried a couple of different approaches in different countries," Netflix chief operating officer Greg Peters said (via the Motley Fool) "And based on the customer feedback that we're getting, we sort of landed on an approach toward paid sharing that we think strikes that balance."

The Netflix executive implied that the company is still deciding on the "range of options" it will offer for members who will want to continue sharing their passwords. "We're looking forward to getting that out in early '23," Peters added.

The confirmation of upcoming fees for password-sharing next year came shortly after Netflix introduced the Profile Transfer feature on Monday. People who have been borrowing an account for so long may second-guess getting their own subscriptions because they do not want to lose their profile data and settings. Netflix hopes to remove that barrier with this new feature, as it allows users to move their My List, saved games, and personalized recommendations to a new account.

Peters also noted that introducing new payment options for password-sharing and the upcoming Basic with Ads tier should work complementary with one another to benefit Netflix's business model. So people who will be forced out of the accounts they have been borrowing will have the option to pay for a $6.99 ad-supported plan launching in 12 countries next month.

Photo by Souvik Banerjee on Unsplash