If you share your Netflix account with someone who doesn't live in the same house, Netflix could soon ask you to pay extra. The streaming platform will soon start testing this change in a few regions, and if the test is a success, you might have to shell out more money to add sub-accounts for people you don't live with.

Netflix offers a couple of useful features to help users easily share their accounts with others. However, the company doesn't want you using these features to share your account with people who don't live with you, unless you're willing to pay extra. To that end, the streaming service will soon start testing new features that will prompt users to pay up if they wish to share their accounts between households.

Over the next few weeks, Netflix users in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru will get access to two new features:

  • Add an extra member: Members on our Standard and Premium plans will be able to add sub accounts for up to two people they don't live with - each with their own profile, personalized recommendations, login and password - at a lower price: 2,380 CLP in Chile, 2.99 USD in Costa Rica, and 7.9 PEN in Peru
  • Transfer profile to a new account: Members on our Basic, Standard, and Premium plans can enable people who share their account to transfer profile information either to a new account or an Extra Member sub account - keeping the viewing history, My List, and personalized recommendations

Netflix aims to generate more revenue from people sharing accounts between households with these features. However, they might not go down well with some users, and they could just cancel their subscription altogether. For instance, I share my Netflix account with my parents, but I don't live with them. If Netflix implements these changes, I'll be forced to pay extra to share my account with my parents. Since we don't use Netflix all that much, it would make more sense for me to cancel the subscription than pay anything extra to add another member. I sure hope Netflix has a solution for such scenarios, or the company could end up losing subscribers instead of increasing its revenue.

Are you willing to pay extra to share your Netflix account between households? Let us know in the comments section below.


Source: Netflix