It's official, the charge for sharing a Netflix account has finally arrived in the Netherlands. As of this week, anyone who wishes to share their Netflix password with friends or family will have to pay an additional 4 euros a month on top of their standard subscription.
This week, Netflix customers in the Netherlands who share their account with someone outside their household (i.e. someone living at a different address) received an email letting them know they’ll now face an additional charge for password sharing.
“Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with - your household,” the email read. Customers who would like to continue to share their account with others are given two options: they can either transfer a profile (and all the profile data and watch history) to a new membership, or they can “buy an extra member” for an additional 3,99 euros a month.
Earlier this year, the American streaming service - which has offices across the globe, including in Amsterdam - reported that 100 million of its 220 million subscribers share their account with someone outside of their household, leading to Netflix missing out on at least half a billion euros in extra turnover every month. In order to discourage this, the company announced earlier this year that it would be announcing a new charge for those wishing to share passwords.
Netflix will use user IP addresses, account activity and device IDs in order to monitor account usage. If an account is regularly accessed from a different location, the user will be notified that it is not part of the Netflix household and viewing will be blocked.
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