Netflix is “completely satisfied” with the progress it’s making on its password-sharing crackdown so far in the United States, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on Monday at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference (via Variety).
The mega-streamer first began cracking down on password sharing in several Latin America in 2022, when Netflix subscribers who were sharing an account with viewers not living with them were required to pay a nominal fee for “extra members.” Password sharing restrictions then expanded to Canada, New Zealand, and some European countries in February 2023, before expanding to the U.S., UK, and other countries in May 2023.
Netflix basically ignored password sharing for over a decade before deciding to crack down on it.
According to Netflix, an estimated 222 million paying households were sharing with an additional 100 million households that were not being monetized.
Netflix says it saw strong subscriber growth in the countries where it has cracked down on sharing. Netflix in Q2 2023 added six million subscribers, including more than a million in the U.S. and Canada. Revenue increased in every region where paid sharing was rolled out. In the third quarter of 2023, Netflix gained 8.8 million new subscribers, up from 2.4 million new subscribers in Q3 2022, plus revenue increased by $64 million.
