Shared Netflix accounts have been a big requirement for subscribing to the streaming service. But they have an expiration date. After several months of testing in some countries, the company will close the faucet globally in 2023 and the user who wants to keep them you will have to pay an extra fee.

The company made the announcement in a presentation of fourth-quarter financial results that beat investors’ expectations as well as Netflix’s own forecasts with revenue of $7.85 billion and added more than 7 million subscribers for total 230.7 million. Netflix leads the world in streaming services for movies and series, followed by Disney with 220 million, but in this case it adds all its platforms, Disney+, Hulu, Star and ESPN+.

It must be said that these financial results, as Netflix reverses the trend of declining subscribers, are the first since the launch of a new plan of cheap subscriptions in exchange for advertising. No specific figures were provided on its impact, but it is certain that it was instrumental in reversing the decline in subscribers from previous quarters.

Also comment on other news that has already been announced that shouldn’t be reflected in the predetermined overall strategy: Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings stepped down as CEO yesterday, although he will continue to serve as executive president. Current co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos will remain in his role and will be joined in the same position by Greg Peters, who previously led the company’s operations division.

Goodbye to shared Netflix accounts (without paying)

It was sung. You know what it’s about. You subscribe to the service and you can share your account for free with your son or cousin, whether they are at your home or away. Or you agree with a group of friends, agree on a bill and pay it together. It’s really a feature offered by almost all services and not just multimedia content. A Microsoft 365 “family” subscription lets you do the same.

It will end on Netflix very soon. The company says that Netflix shared accounts reach 100 million households and that this “it undermines our long-term ability to invest and improve as well as build our business”, they point out in the presentation of the results. All indications are that the plan has started on a trial basis in some Latin American countries, with the payment of an additional fee of $2.99 ​​(for two additional houses and two devices) being rolled out globally, probably from April.

Netflix is ​​aware of this with this measure will lose subscribers, but believes shared account users appreciate its content while also paying for their own subscriptions. Netflix makes this easy with a migration tool that lets you transfer your profile to a new account.

We’ll see what happens when the measure is rolled out globally. The general problem is not the end of shared Netflix accounts. The point is that the amount of this type of service has grown so much that consumers They don’t have the budget to pay them all.. And it’s not just series and movies. Add music; video game; cloud storage; edition; productivity… We will have to choose and a lot.