Netflix is pushing back its plans to crack down on password sharing in the US until sometime before July. In released an earnings report on Tuesday, the streamer says it has “shifted the timing of the wide launch from late Q1 to Q2.”
Earlier this year, Netflix committed to “broadening” password sharing by the end of the first quarter of 2023. While it rolled out new password-sharing rules in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain in February, those rules never made it to the US.
Now Netflix says it is “satisfied with the results” of implementing paid sharing in these four countries so far and has helped build Canada’s paid subscriber base, which is “now growing faster than the US.”
In these locations — along with some of the Latin and Central American countries where it first began testing password-sharing rules — users must pay extra if they want to share their Netflix accounts with people outside of their home country. primary households. Netflix charges an additional $7.99 CAD (about $5.97 USD) per month per person in Canada, though the option to share an account with up to two other people is only available with Netflix’s standard and premium plans. Netflix.
Delaying the launch of paid sharing should help Netflix implement some of the improvements it came up with while testing the feature outside the US, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters explains. during an income interview. The company says it wants to ensure users can still access Netflix while traveling outside of their primary household, and give them the tools they need to manage access to their accounts and devices.
“Based on those results, we felt it was better to take a little extra time, incorporate those lessons, and make this transition as smooth as possible for the members,” said Peters.
This is the first full quarter in which we can see whether Netflix’s ad-supported level has had any significant impact on the company. The plan got off to a shaky start when it was first introduced in November, but it started to gain momentum in the following months, according to research from data analytics company Antenna.
Netflix added 1.75 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2023, bringing the total to 232.5 million worldwide. As indicated by streaming journalist Janko Roettgers, Netflix is already making more money per subscriber with its ad-supported tier at $6.99 per month compared to its cheapest ad-free tier. Spencer Neumann, Netflix’s chief financial officer, confirmed this during the company’s earnings call, noting that the company is “satisfied with the economics of our per-member advertising plan,” adding that it’s even “higher” than the base plan. of the company without ads.
That’s probably why Netflix is doing more to lure customers to the ad-supported tier. Netflix says it’s adding new benefits to the plan, starting with Canada and Spain, including 1080p video quality instead of 720p and the ability to watch two streams at once. However, the ad-supported tier doesn’t currently offer the full library of content available on other Netflix plans.
With Netflix appearing to offer even more than just on-demand content, the streamer saw success with it Chris Rock: Selective outrage live comedy special, that one landed on the list of top 10 shows that week. Things didn’t go so smoothly during Netflix’s second attempt to broadcast a live event, however, as technical issues forced Netflix to cancel its event. Love is blind live reunion special all the way, only giving users the option to stream the episode after it airs.
This is Netflix’s first quarter with co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters at the helm. In January, former Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced that he was stepping down after 25 years and now serves as executive chairman. It also marks a major milestone for the company as it finally shuts down the DVD business it was known for before becoming the streaming giant it is today.
Update April 18, 6:36 PM ET: Added additional statements and context from Netflix executives.
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