In the context of its strategy to combat shared and lent accounts, on March 16 Netflix announced the launch of two new options to tackle the problem. The first step consists in a trial run to be conducted only in Latin America, specifically in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru.
“We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams. This has created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households, impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members,” explained Netflix Director of Product Innovation Chengyi Long.
The first option is the possibility of adding an extra member within the same account at a price that is lower than the subscription fee. The second feature makes it possible to transfer a profile from an active account to a new account, keeping the viewing history and personalized recommendations.
Chengyi Long did not provide any details as to how users will be invited to add an extra member to their account or to create a new account. It is worth remembering that the OTT began to try solutions to this problem in early 2021, when it started warning users allegedly accessing the service from lent or shared accounts and requested them to enter a code sent to the customer via email or via mobile phone text messages.
“We’ll be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world,” noted the Netflix executive.