The giant streaming service Netflix is increasing its efforts against freeloaders. Starting next year, the company will charge fees for password sharing. The new system adds a fee for an extra member whenever a person outside a subscriber’s household uses their account. 

While the company didn’t specify how much these fees will cost, it confirmed the plan in a statement on Tuesday. Their plan of action is already going through tests in a couple of countries in Latin America. In those countries, there’s a fee for every extra member that signs up. And it’s worth about one-quarter of the member’s subscription plan. 

If the company decides to put that plan into practice, every password sharing member will have to pay between $3.50 and $4 in the United States. 

There have been many years of a “do-nothing” policy about password sharing. But now, Netflix decided to test different ways to get members who share their accounts to pay a little extra. Rumors of it started sprouting when the company had its biggest subscriber loss in early 2022. 

In addition to password sharing fees, the company is launching an ad-supported tier plan on November 3. A much cheaper option to attract new consumers and put an end to shared accounts. 

For years, Netflix has been dominating the streaming field. That caused almost all major Hollywood media companies to come up with streaming operations of their own. The “steaming wars” as some call it has brought a series of new services like HBO Max, Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus and many more.

With so many options to choose from, it’s become complicated for the general public to understand which services to pay for in order to watch their favorite TV shows and movies through these platforms. 

With so much competition, the company’s finally realizing the importance of holding onto a member’s attention (and subscription) and is pursuing the same strategies that it had dismissed in years. 

This new password sharing fee program that it intends to roll out more broadly next year is a model of a plan that’s already been happening in Chile and Costa Rica for more than half a year now. 

In July, the streaming company said it would begin testing a model in which it establishes the subscriber’s account as the primary residence for the membership. So any ongoing streams that happen outside of this primary residence for more than two weeks would prompt a new profile.

That way, the subscriber would have to pay this password sharing fee for the additional residence. The company said there will be a limit of how many additional residences a member can add according to how much they already pay for the service. This is apparently the plan Netflix will be rolling out in 2023. 

Netflix is adding a cheaper, ad-supported tier plan next month in an effort to attract more subscribers and put a stop on password sharing. Check the link below to learn more details about the new feature.