Netflix’s test is currently underway in Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, reports Bloomberg.
A Netflix Help Page explains how it works: users have to pay an additional fee if they use the Netflix app outside their home location for more than two weeks. This specifically concerns the Netflix app for TV or devices that are connected to a TV, such as a game console or Apple TV.
Each additional household costs $2.99 per month on top of the regular monthly price. Users in the test areas can designate one location as their home address. While traveling, they can use Netflix unlimited on devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops.
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‘It is no longer possible to share free accounts’
Users who want to can add additional homes to their subscription, increasing the subscription price by $2.99 per home per month. The amount of additional houses depends on the subscription. With the Basic subscription you can add one extra address, with Standard two addresses and the Premium subscription three addresses.
“It’s great that our members love our movies and series so much that they want to share them,” said Netflix head of product innovation Chengyi Long. “But the widespread account sharing between households undermines our long-term ability to continue investing in our service.”
It is not yet known when the test with the monthly allowance will be extended to other countries.
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Netflix is stepping on the brakes
Netflix deliberately allowed account sharing for years. As a result, more users came into contact with the service and the number of subscribers only grew for more than ten years. Until early this year, when the number of Netflix subscribers for the first time since 2011 decreased.
Netflix immediately said that sharing accounts tackled would become. The company is testing in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru since this spring another model. There, users can add up to two people to their subscription for $3 a month.
About 34 percent of all Dutch subscribers to streaming services are watching someone else’s account, a recent survey revealed research. Also, 28 percent said they share their login details with someone else.
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Cheaper subscription with commercials
In addition, Netflix is working on a cheaper subscription, where users will see advertisements. Netflix is a collaboration for that met Microsoft started.
The cheaper subscription with advertisements will probably be available at the end of this year. The price is still unknown. With prices from 8 to 16 euros per month, Netflix is one of the most expensive of the major streaming services.
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