Netflix considering 'monetising account sharing' next year after trial

Following a trial in South America, Netflix is considering 'monetising account sharing' and revealed when this might come into place.

Look, it's a fact of life that one person in your family pays for Netflix while the others parasitically feed off of the account and we're fine with that.

Still, you could soon be charged for freeloading your favourite shows, like The Watcher.

Yep, the days of account sharing and booting people in the next room off because it's your turn to watch Bake Off could soon be gone, as the streaming giant said in the quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, 18 October.

Netflix said that it is considering monetising account sharing after they'd trialled a system in South America earlier this year.

jvphoto / Alamy Stock Photo.

The streaming giant said in its shareholder letter: "We've landed on a thoughtful approach to monetize account sharing and we'll begin rolling this out more broadly starting in early 2023.

"After listening to consumer feedback, we are going to offer the ability for sharers to manage their devices more easily and to create sub-accounts, if they want to pay for family or friends."

Not exactly what you want to hear before a weekend of binging boxsets, is it?

Still, the news is to be expected, with the company introducing a new 'add a home' feature in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras earlier this year.

The trial saw users pay an extra fee to add other accounts to their own, with the Director of Product Innovation at Netflix, Chengyi Long, said in a statement: "Over the last 15 years, we’ve worked hard to build a streaming service that’s easy to use, including for people who travel or live together.

"It’s great that our members love Netflix movies and TV shows so much they want to share them more broadly.

"But today’s widespread account sharing between households undermines our long-term ability to invest in and improve our service."

Piotr Adamowicz / Alamy Stock Photo.

She added: "So we’ve been carefully exploring different ways for people who want to share their account to pay a bit more. In March 2022, we launched an 'add extra member' feature in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru.

"From next month, we will launch an alternative 'add a home' feature in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras."

The streaming service has yet to announce how much it will charge customers for the ‘extra user’ service - but if it’s anything like the pilot scheme in Latin America, it will follow a ‘one quarter of the basic rate’ ideology.

LADBible has contacted Netflix for comment.