SINGAPORE – Netflix users in Chile, Peru and Costa Rica are being made to connect their viewing devices to their home Wi-Fi at least once every 31 days as part of a trial to crack down on password-sharing on the platform.
They are also required to pay additional fees to share their account with others outside of the registered location.
Details of the new guidelines were accidentally posted in Netflix help centre articles for other countries, such as the United States, on Wednesday, according to British daily The Guardian. They have since been taken down, except in the three countries.
Netflix, which has 230 million subscribers worldwide, estimates that more than 100 million users are sharing passwords and watching its programmes for free.
The streaming giant started suggesting a potential crackdown on password-sharing in April 2022, when its subscriber base fell by 200,000 in the first quarter of the year.
When contacted, Netflix SG would only say that “we expect to roll this out more broadly in Q1 (first quarter 2023)”.
Under the guidelines in the three trial countries, only those in one household – defined as those who live together in a primary location – can use the same Netflix account.
To ensure that an account is not being shared outside the registered household, the trial requires users to connect their viewing device to the Wi-Fi in their home, open the Netflix app and watch something on the streaming service at least once every 31 days.
The guidelines also state that the company will use information such as IP addresses, device IDs and account activity to determine whether a device used to sign in to an account is connected to the primary location.
A device may be blocked from playing Netflix programmes if it is deemed to have accessed the service from outside the registered household.
Netflix said in a January shareholder letter that widespread account-sharing “undermines our long-term ability to invest in and improve Netflix, as well as build our business”.
However, the company’s fourth-quarter revenue, operating profit and membership growth exceeded forecasts and “outperformed” expectations off the back of releases such as the documentary series about Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle.
The letter added that the clampdown on shared passwords, as well as the rolling out of paid sharing, could begin by end-March.
Paid sharing – which has already been tested in selected South American countries – permits people from different households to add profiles under one account at an extra cost to the account holder.
