Netflix said it was “delighted” with how quickly the password-sharing crackdown it started in the US earlier this year was going. It began in a few Latin American nations in 2022, moved to Canada, New Zealand, and a few European countries in February 2023, and finally made its way to the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries in May 2023.
The reason for the change was Netflix’s first-ever subscriber loss and steep revenue decline in the first quarter of 2022. Netflix stopped selling passwords, increased pricing and introduced an ad-supported tier to increase revenue. According to Netflix, 100 million households were not monetized, while an estimated 222 million paying households shared content.
Following the crackdown on password sharing, Netflix increased strong subscriber growth in such countries, adding six million subscribers in Q2 2023. Netflix added 8.8 million new subscribers in the third quarter of 2023, and revenue increased by $64 million. Netflix subscribers can now only share accounts with people who live in the same household, with access restricted based on IP address and other location data.
In addition to removing password sharing, Netflix raised its prices in the United States in October. The no-ads Basic plan is now $11.99 monthly, while the Premium plan is $22.99 monthly. Netflix’s $6.99 ad-supported tier or its $15.49/month Standard plan remains unchanged.
