Netflix wants to tackle password sharing by charging users an additional fee to buy additional Homes
Netflix is testing a new way to tackle the password sharing problem. The streaming service is introducing, Netflix Homes, an additional fee that users may have to pay, if they are sharing their account with others.
This isn't the first time the streaming service has complained about the problem, it did so last year too. A few months ago, Netflix claimed that it was "losing money" because many users opted to share the account that they paid for, with their family and friends. In March 2022, the company announced its intention to tackle this problem by allowing users to add extra members to their account. The tests began for users in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru.
What are Netflix Homes?
And now, the company has replaced it with an alternative called Netflix Homes. Per an article published on its blog, Netflix users in Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, who want to share their passwords with other users, will have to pay a fee of 219 Pesos (Argentina), or $2.99 (in the other 4 countries), on top of their regular plan's fee. The service defines the feature as follows, each Netflix account will include one home where you can use it on any of your devices. Every additional home that you add to your account will have to pay the extra free. You can refer to the prices on the official site.
Netflix will allow users to access the service while on-the-go, on tablets, mobiles and laptops. How does it work? A support article for Homes, states that Netflix will not automatically add a home and charge the extra fee. It also mentions that the service detects homes by using IP addresses, device IDs and account activity. Users may encounter an error like "too many homes", if a device is connected to a VPN, proxy, or unblocker service.
Users who travel can access Netflix on a TV outside your home for up to 2 weeks, but there is a catch. Your account should not have been used at the location previously, and this is only allowed once per location per year. You will be able to click Learn More to view the locations where their account is accessed, and optionally choose the "Yes, Replace Home" option. This option can only be used 3 times every 6 months.
Paying the additional fee will remove these limitations. Users can add or remove Homes manually by reviewing their account page using a web browser.
The 219 Pesos/$2.99 fee may not sound like much, but allow me to calculate the price differences. With the new rule in effect, users sharing the Netflix Premium plan in Argentina would be looking at a price increase of 18.27%, up from 1119 ARS to 1418 ARS. The Standard plan which is available for 799 ARS would become 1018 ARS (a 27% increase), which brings it very close to the regular price of the Premium plan. Similarly, the prices in the other 4 countries will increase from $10.99 to $13.98 (27% hike), and $13.99 to $16.98 (21% hike). The Basic plan which costs 429 ARS, would cost 648 ARS, after a 51% increase in the price, while the same plan in the other 4 countries will see a 37.4% price creep at $10.98 (up from $7.99).
Note: These examples include just one extra home per plan, and does not include taxes.
The Basic plan will allow you to add 1 extra home, the Standard plan allows up to 2 extra homes, and the Premium plan supports up to 3 extra homes. The Netflix Homes subscription rule will come into effect on August 22, 2022. On a related note, Netflix is also set to partner with Microsoft to introduce a new lower priced ad-supported subscription plan.
I don't think password sharing alone is to blame for Netflix's supposed poor performance. The problem starts with the fees that these streaming services charge people. A $5 or $10 monthly subscription (basic plan) maybe fine for some users, but the service may not have access to all the shows that someone may want to watch. Imagine paying $10 for some TV shows (e.g. Netflix originals), but then you realize another show that you like is only available on another service, or has left Netflix (in favor of another one), you now have to pay more for it.
Throw in some sports into the mix, and you could easily end up footing a bill upwards of $30 or $50 per month, which makes it a bit of luxury for many people. This is why people resort to sharing the passwords, not because they don't want to pay for it, but because they are already paying for something, but are not getting what they want on the platform. By sharing a subscription with their family members and friends, they may get access to a different steaming service in return to access more content.
I doubt that charging people more money to share their account is actually going to help the service, if anything it could have the opposite effect, and drive them away to their rivals. I know people who split the fee for Netflix subscriptions because they are only interested in a specific TV show or two, and don't want to pay the full price.
Do you share your Netflix account with your friends and family? What do you think about the extra charges?
I think that the whole streaming thing is heading in the wrong direction. There are too many services out there that compete with each other, and each service is getting more and more desperate to make enough money to please shareholders and keep the whole company running.
Extra homes makes Netflix even more complicated for users who stream content from different locations. It does not sound like a good idea.
Yes, this. What made me drop N*tflix was that they didn’t have the old Dr. Who episodes anymore. If you need a guide just to know what each streaming service $currently can offer, then I rather go back to buying used optical media again and re-selling with small losses.
Anyone who isn’t blind should know and see what N*tflix offers is not real 4k:
50 GB (dual-layer,[1] 82 Mbit/s)
66 GB (dual-layer,[1] 108 Mbit/s)
100 GB (triple-layer,[1] 128 Mbit/s; BDXL[1])
128 GB (quad-layer; BDXL)[1]
My router never hit these bandwidths when streaming and neither did the total amount of transmitted data ever match what a 4k BluRay-Disc from the store would offer me. Pixelmud? Yikes, hard pass!
And before someone says: “But AV1 and HEVC!” Sure thing, if the re-re-encoded original material is satisfying to you: Go for it.
These services need to step up their game, or perish. It is with everything like this. There is a golden age with too much services and then comes the decline, where only a few services survive. Just look at the tech market. How many ’90s graphics vendors do you remember and how many are alive today? tseng labs anyone?
That is not the way it works, the streamable files are re-encoded and the service optimized. Quoting hard copy bandwidth requirement to compare with a re-encoded file is like comparing your ass to your face.
Anything tech literate without corpo buzzwords? If you cannot see the block artifacting in frame by frame comparisons, i think you should get your eye pressure checked. First sign of glaucoma. Worried for you, friend :)
Sounds typical for subscription services everywhere. First its unlimited and free and all that. They get critical user numbers and than its one way only , reduce service quality and increase price. Bind people with contracts and push for ideology. How many companies have we seen do this, from Disney, Amazon, Adobe, Microsoft, Apple etc.
I mean after all the pedophilia programs like Cuties and others, after all the woke push, and generally subpar programs, and competition adding more similar streaming services on the market, now they want the users to pay for their mistakes and complacency and than what? Preaching its users about morality by streaming cuties 2 in the future? OK, Groomer. I don’t think so. They lost many users because of their arrogance of thinking they are unique so they stop innovating and pushed of wokenes along with some pretty distasteful product, means they will have to work a lot hard to regain trust, and instead they chose to charge the remainers more. Go woke, go broke.
Nailed it!
So let me make sense of this. People pay for a useless service by giving money each month to watch an unlimited number of bad films and TV series. They find it normal to steal from the provider by sharing their password.
Then the provider tells them : you may steal from me, but that will cost you a small extra amount, not the full subscription price.
People write elaborate articles on the Internet to say this is really not fair and threaten to stop paying for the service.
What about honesty ? What about the outmoded concept of buying only what you can afford, and stop whining about the rest, especially when it’s a luxury you can easily dispense with ?
Define “””stealing”””. Their service is none. So essentially you cannot have a son living at a university dorm and watch Netflix on 2 devices, because suddenly their greed made the decision that you don’t only pay for device/screen but also for IP-addresses.
Absolutely preposterous!
Imagine your wife is at home, your son at uni and you are watching on business travels from a mobile device. 3 screens and 3 IPs. That is 2 extra homes. Under no circumstances I will start corporate bootlicking now and defend this. That is plan and simple greed.
I love it when people who want to steal a service get all upset about what they call ‘corporate greed’ when they are stopped from doing so. And of course raising a price is also ‘greed,’ as if all the cost and competitive factors that go into a decision about that are all irrelevant. And, in this particular case, it is even more laughable because it is quite clear that Netflix is having an extremely hard time adjusting to a rapidly changing marketplace where the very business model that you want them to maintain in perpetuity for your convenience is increasingly at risk and in fact may not even be at all viable for much longer.
If you don’t like a service or feel that the offering is too expensive, then cut back, don’t use it at all, or switch to a competitor. It really is that simple.
Define “””upset””” when I wrote way above I am NOT using it, because I don’t like pixelmud and overcompress multiply re-encoded content. It would appear not only eyesight but reading comprehension is affected as well in growing cases.
@ Frankel
> “Define stealing.”
Not to put too fine a point on it, honest, law-abiding people do not need stealing to be defined for them. They have known the meaning of the word since they were little kids.
> “Under no circumstances I will start corporate bootlicking now and defend this. That is plain and simple greed.”
Oh, I see. So your politics allow you to steal. Nice politics you have there. May I burglarize your house ? I’m sure I can find a political justification for it.
Not stealing from businesses has become “corporate bootlicking” for some. Nice way to put things. I mean, doing it is one thing. But do you really need to boast about it and find dishonest justifications ? Some people have no shame.
‘I love it when people who want to steal a service get all upset about what they call ‘corporate greed’ when they are stopped from doing so. And of course raising a price is also ‘greed,’ as if all the cost and competitive factors that go into a decision about that are all irrelevant. And, in this particular case, it is even more laughable because it is quite clear that Netflix is having an extremely hard time adjusting to a rapidly changing marketplace where the very business model that you want them to maintain in perpetuity for your convenience is increasingly at risk and in fact may not even be at all viable for much longer.’
&
‘Not stealing from businesses has become “corporate bootlicking” for some. Nice way to put things. I mean, doing it is one thing. But do you really need to boast about it and find dishonest justifications ? Some people have no shame.’
Netflix was known for producing high quality web series. Now it started to buy movies rights too in many countries, even having special contracts to not release a movie in theatre or straight on Netflix four weeks after release. Where do you money is coming from to buy movie rights?
Everything would’ve been fine had Netflix released a new subscription tier to watch movies or separate movies and web series. It didn’t. So those users who have only subscribed to Netflix for web series now have to pay increased prices because now movies are being forced on them. Yeah right. By the way they subscribed to Netflix to not watch movies in the first place.
No wonder they’re having a hard time as they’ve changed their business model. See that’s called corporate greed. Instead of following a linear path with not so outlandish growth but steady growth, they followed quick money and are now having to find new ways to generate money. But then maybe for two particular readers here that part is too hard to understand.
Long rant with no explanation why other services are doing better nonetheless without raising prices. Stranger things and Squid Game are just not enough, and even those drag on as they refuse to finish ST in grace. There will be a new season and a season after… Dr House syndrome anyone?
@Frankel
I was highlighting issues in their comments from Clairvaux and Herman Cost. Atleast I think I was since I used quote from their comments.
Netflix is caught in greed of their investors. Even now if they do things right way – become a niche service with quality content(albeit at slightly less budget), then they can compete. But if they continue chasing movies they’re f***ed.
Some people just love fake outrage, i can VPN into my router and keep using the same IP from my home. Technically it is more of a tunnel as no external company is involved. At least i’m kissing only my iwn boots. Still not using n*tflix and their pixelmud.
Netflix has to realize that we are not 10 years ago when they were the only streaming service around. Their prices are too high already when they are now the home only of their own content and some 3rd party content. All major studios have made their own service.
In my country right now I can have Disney+ which includes adult content too in Star, I can have HBO Max, Apple tv+ and Prime video too all for 25 euros with their annual subscription options.
I can have basically 5 streaming services (Disney+, Star, HBO Max, Apple tv+, Prime Video) all with 25 euros. Paying 15 euros just for Netflix?? Please…
Netflix will have to adapt to the new era of streaming, dicrease prices… not increasing them even more or they will have the destiny of every other company that refused to adapt.
How do you get all five services for 25 EUR? Is it a special combo through an internet provider? Something else?
@ShintoPlasm
I pay 8 euros for disney+ and star with its annual subscription option, 7 euros for hbo max with its annual subscription option, 5 euros for apple tv+ and 6 euros for prime. My monthly bill for all is 25 euros.
I cancelled Netflix and with 10 more euros I have now 5 services instead of only Netflix. I won’t subscribe to Netflix ever again unless they realise what they are today.
They are just a part of our streaming experience and they should ask for less than 10 euros a month like all other streaming services do.
They don’t offer anything better than hbo, disney, prime etc to ask for 15 euros a month.
I have 2 kids in university. If I’m asked to undergo a nearly 50% increase in Netflix just to continue to give them access to watch a show MAYBE 1 or 2 nights a month for 9 months of the year, I’ll just drop the whole thing. Other than a couple of their originals it’s mostly just junk you can find on free streaming services – or something just as good, anyway. It’s mostly background noise for us anyway.
Ahoy matey, background. Been a Netflix DVD customer since the beginning. Been a Netflix streamer since 2008, when the content was spectacular.
Got rid of cable’s 250 channels of nothing over 17 years ago. Best entertainment decision I ever made.
Got rid of Netflix 2+ years ago, after Hollywood greed destroyed Netflix and Netflix responded by destroying itself. Dumping Netflix was the best modern entertainment decision I ever made and I’ll never go back to streaming: streaming is dead.
https://libreelec.tv/
Since getting rid of streaming, we use only offline content with no external connection required for viewing. Since then, entertainment has become highly predictable, discoverable, organized, beautiful, reliable and with zero buffering but very high bit-rates. It is entertainment perfected thanks to LibreElec on a RPi4 (can use other devices such as laptop, other boards, etc). As Hollywood continues to Balkanize streaming, knowledgeable folks will tap out and go back to old ways. Hollywood’s greed based answer to a modern problem seethes with their classic greed, they’ve learned nothing in 60 years.
Bad move.
If people who are using someone elses account get caught and really want to keep it, they’ll pony up the $7.99 as easy as $2.99. If they can afford the the broadband interent required to view it, $5/mo don’t mean shyt.
We started Netflix after someone shared a password with us. We never got caught but were limited to only 1 stream that sometimes got cut off when the owner used all the streams. We got hooked and created our own account.
Everyone knows it’s market fragmentation rooted in greed that is the real problem. Don’t blame Netflix for that.
PS You can still put an antennae on your house and get free TV.
There isn’t anything on Netflix worth watching anymore besides Stranger Things and Squid Game. All the other good shows ended. Their original movies are garbage that’s the same quality of B movies at the Walmart $1 DVD bin.
Netflix is losing customers because their service is becoming unaffordable and having to tighten one’s belt means dropping unessential luxuries. And they want to charge more?
Netflix is a waste of time anyway. Nothing worthwhile at all. And where I am, we only get access to 10% of the US library and 25% higher cost…
Yeah I still buy physical, wish netflix would move its content to BD. I’d buy Last Kingdom complete in a heartbeat, too bad the canceled it, one of their best shows imo.
Sorry Aswin,
a really very confusing part in your article!
“The 219 Pesos/$2.99 fee may not sound like much, but allow me to calculate the price differences. With the new rule in effect, users sharing the Netflix Premium plan in Argentina would be looking at a price increase of 18.27%, up from 1119 ARS to 1418 ARS. The Standard plan which is available for 799 ARS would become 1018 ARS (a 27% increase), which brings it very close to the regular price of the Premium plan. Similarly, the prices in the other 4 countries will increase from $10.99 to $13.98 (27% hike), and $13.99 to $16.98 (21% hike). The Basic plan which costs 429 ARS, would cost 648 ARS, after a 51% increase in the price, while the same plan in the other 4 countries will see a 37.4% price creep at $10.98 (up from $7.99).”
That really could be formulated much better!