‘What the hell we gon’ do now?’: Netflix users call out company’s anti password-sharing measures
TikTok and Netflix user Nia (@antoniabashir) served her audience a bitter pill about Netflix’s new password crackdown policy in a video which now has a whopping 2M views.
Nia opens the 33-second video by first addressing the camera, “So when was ya’ll gonna tell me that Netflix was not playing?” She then flips the phone around and shows her Smart TV. “First of all this my mama account, cause who the hell finna pay for Netflix when mama got an account,” she declares.
For reference, Netflix announced its first measures to crackdown on password sharing in 2023. And Nia’s video shines a light on this controversial change.
@antoniabashir @Netflix count your days! #netflix #netflixcrackdown #fyp ♬ SkeeYee - Sexyy Red
Back to the video. When the option for who’s profile to log into appears on the homescreen, she chooses “Nia” and a prompt appears, “Your TV isn’t part of the Netflix Household for this Account.” Nia turns the camera back around on herself saying, “So what the hell we gonna do now?”
A good question. What are the options for Netflix account owners and their unofficial account sharers?
Netflix, acknowledging the pervasive practice of password sharing among its over 100 million subscribers, instituted a stringent protocol in the U.S. to curb this phenomenon and bolster its revenue amidst the saturation of the streaming market. In April 2022, the company had to confront its first subscriber loss in over a decade. Netflix is now enforcing a policy where only users on the same internet connection, deemed a "Netflix Household," can access an account unless they pay for additional users on standard or premium plans. A premium plan costs $7.99 to add a “Non Household Member."
Users beyond the household will encounter prompts to establish a new account or join as an extra member, implying an extra expense. Subscription options now range from $6.99 per month for a "Standard with ads" plan to $19.99 per month for a Premium plan.
Commenters had varying opinions to Nia's post, with some remarking that once password sharing stopped on Netflix, so did their patronage of the application's services. "I deleted mine months ago. I paid $20 a month for four profiles. If they’re gonna care which household those profiles are in, I don’t need them," one person wrote.
Another person didn't like the strict measures Netflix has been taking, either. "Even when you mirror it from you’re phone to the tv they don’t allow that either, they doing too much," the user wrote.
One person offered up a way to get around the password sharing blockage, however. "On the Roku search just search something on Netflix and go to it. Once you get to the show just back out of it and you’re on your Netflix account," the user wrote.
Despite fears of customer protests, this radical policy shift seems to have been a good gamble for Netflix. Data from Bloomberg Second Measure revealed that after the new policy began in late May, U.S. subscriber rates dramatically surged, with a notable 236% increase from May 21 to June 18. This approach, aided by location tracking to enforce single-home use, successfully enhanced Netflix's subscriber acquisition amid fierce competition in the streaming market.
If you make a good product people will pay seems to be the takeaway. It now looks like Nia may have to Venmo her mother $7.99 a month if she wants the latest and greatest entertainment Netflix has to offer.
As Bob Dylan once sang, “Oh, the times they are a’ changing.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Netflix via email and Nia via TikTok comment for further information.
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