Netflix cracks down on UK households sharing accounts

Do you share a Netflix account with friends or family?

Netflix has started cracking down on households sharing passwords in some of its biggest markets, including the UK and the US.

It announced it would be sending emails to customers who are sharing Netflix accounts outside their household, prompting them to either sign out devices that shouldn't be using their account or to buy memberships for people outside their home.

The streaming platform first revealed its plans to stop password sharing last year after seeing a fall in the number of people subscribing for the first time in over 10 years.

The company, which currently has 233 million subscribers globally, had previously said it estimated more than 100 million households share passwords, despite this being against its official rules.

It now hopes people who have previously relied on shared passwords will sign up for their own accounts to help boost Netflix's growth and profits.

The company, which wants to make more money, has been affected by an increase in competition from services like Disney+, Amazon and Apple TV.

What does Netflix consider to be a household?

Netflix currently allow people in the same house to use the same account

Netflix says that everyone living in a particular home are counted as one household.

"Everyone living in that household can use Netflix wherever they are — at home, on the go, on holiday..." the company said in a recent statement.

However, people using a Netflix account outside the home where the main account holder lives aren't considered to be part of that household.

So how exactly does Netflix know if a password is being shared with people outside of a household? The company says factors including IP addresses, which identify devices on the internet or a local network, account activity and device IDs can all help it determine whether a Netflix account is being used in the home of the main account holder or not.

What changes are being introduced?

Netflix said that while they were growing their subscribers, they weren't too bothered about account sharing, whereas now it's a big priority for them

Currently, a Netflix subscription in the UK can cost anything between £4.99 and £15.99 per month, depending on the plan customers choose.

The streaming company has said it's started notifying customers that they have to pay an extra additional £4.99 per month if they want to share their account outside their homes.

What impact has the move had so far?

Netflix wants to boost its growth and profits in what has become a very competitive market

Netflix have already trialled the changes in several other countries including Chile, Costa Rica and Peru.

Emails about sharing accounts have also been sent to customers in 103 countries and territories including Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico and Singapore. The outcome has been varied so far, something which the company said it expected.

In Spain, when Netflix started charging 5.99 euros (£5.27) for an additional account, it lost more than a million subscribers in the first three months of the year, according to Kantar.

However, in Canada, where the changes were introduced in February, there are now more members paying for subscriptions than there were before the changes.