Netflix doesn’t want users to share accounts so badly that they’ve introduced a new feature.
Called ‘add a home’, Netflix allows users to buy additional ‘homes’ so that they can share their Netflix accounts with other households. Each home incurs a monthly fee of US$2.99 on top of a regular subscription fee.
And if you think you can get away with sharing your account without buying a home – you thought wrong. Netflix will scan users’ devices and their account activity in an attempt to find out when their logins are being used in more than one location. The streamer will also check on information such as IP addresses and device IDs and will require users to pay the additional fee when it finds logins in other households.
The feature will be rolled out from August in select countries for a quick test. Should the tests be successful, ‘add a home’ will be available in more countries.
Netflix has been cracking down on account and password sharing in the recent months. Earlier in March, the streamer began charging users in order to add extra members to an account. First trialled in Peru, Chile and Costa Rica, the feature will soon be rolled out in other countries.
All these changes come as Netflix faces a loss of 1.3 million subscribers and a fall in revenue. The stock drop inevitably lead to plenty of cancelled shows and projects too. In its announcement, Netflix said that sharing of accounts between different homes “undermines our long-term ability to invest in and improve our service”. Another way the streamer attempts to keep afloat is to add an ad-supported tier set for 2023.
Don’t judge a book by its cover, for behind all this makeup, is a geek just like you. To simply put it, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter and all things gore and creepy makes this girly girl swoon.
Natalie
Si Jia
