Netflix will introduce ‘extra user’ fees early next year

The next phase of Netflix’s months-long crackdown on password sharing will begin soon, following the company’s first quarterly subscriber loss in a decade. During its quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, the company announced that customers who share their login credentials will be charged an additional monthly fee beginning in early 2023.

This move is an expansion of a Latin American pilot program that charges extra fees for “extra user” subaccounts, which are users outside of your immediate household who use your login to access the service. Basically, if they don’t also live with you, every listing on the “Who’s Watching?” screen will cost you extra money.

The announcement comes as Netflix tries to regain growth and appease investors after confirming it lost subscribers earlier this year. Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Season Four of Stranger Things helped the company add more than 2.4 million subscribers in the third quarter.

Netflix has not yet announced pricing for the punitive charges, but based on the pilot program’s “one-quarter of the basic rate” scheme, it should be around US$3-4. To help people avoid those fees, Netflix released an account migration tool on Monday that will transfer a user’s subaccount data (viewing history, recommendations, and so on) to their new, independent subscription.

Furthermore, the company recently announced a lower-cost, ad-supported tier, which will cost $7 per month when it launches on November 3rd. By November 10th, the new tier will be available in a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Mexico.