Netflix's crackdown on password sharing appears to be working

[Karlston]

 

Ever since Netflix announced that it would be clamping down on users who share passwords with others outside of their household, many took to social media to complain and say that they would be canceling their subscriptions. Recent data from the research firm Antenna looks to show the opposite with reported growth in the US ever since the notifications started appearing for users.

 

The Antenna report goes into detail on how many users have been signing up to Netflix on a monthly basis since 2019. With the exception of the start of COVID lockdowns in 2020, numbers have been steady at approximately 30k users per month. However, since the alerts began, Antenna claims Netflix saw its four single-largest days of US user sign-ups to date.

 

Graph courtesy of Antenna

 

During the period of May 26 and May 27, Antenna claims that approximately 73k users signed up to the streaming platform on average, which is a 102% increase from the 60 days previous. Cancelations have also increased unsurprisingly but when comparing the number of sign-ups to losses, the total gain is still a net positive at 25.6%.

 

The new plan makesNetflix users who have people outside their household pay $7.99 per additional member. Antenna's data shows that even though this was an unpopular move by Netflix, it is looking to be a profitable one. So far, Netflix has not made any official announcements on its subscriber numbers since it began the new password sharing fee.

 

What the data doesn't show is how many of these new sign-ups are extra members compared to those who are individual new memberships. With the Extra Member cost being the same price as its Standard with Adverts plan, and with the Basic plan costing only slightly more, it isn't clear which option users are choosing when they are no longer allowed to use their friend or family's account.

 

Source: Antenna

 

 

Netflix's crackdown on password sharing appears to be working