Netflix Testing Account Sharing Outside Household at Extra Cost

Netflix is testing features including one that will allow accounts to be shared outside members' household at an extra cost, the streaming pioneer said on Wednesday. The company is testing the features in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru allowing members on its standard and premium plans to add up to two people.

The streaming service is also studying another feature that will allow members on a basic, standard or premium plan to transfer their profile information to a new account or a sub account retaining data such as viewing history and personalized recommendations.

The company currently allows people who live together to share their Netflix account. However, the plans have created some confusion about when and how accounts can be shared, the company said, adding it is impacting its ability to invest in new content.

The company said it would test the features for their utility before making changes in other parts of the world.

Netflix in January tempered its growth expectations, projecting customer additions in the first quarter at less than half of Wall Street's expectations citing the late arrival of anticipated content.

Netflix recently increased prices for subscribers in the UK and Ireland says that it will use the money to invest in creating original content.

Prices for its popular standard plan in the UK, which allows streaming on two devices at the same time, will rise by GBP 2 to GBP 10.99  every month, while customers who use the basic plan will now have to pay GBP 6.99 rather than the previous price of GBP 5.99. The premium plan would cost as much as GBP 15.99 a month.

In Ireland, the basic plan would increase by EUR 1, while the standard and premium tiers would now cost EUR 14.99 and EUR 20.99, respectively.

© Reuters

March 17, 2022