Netflix brings password sharing curbs to India

livemint.com:

New Delhi: Streaming platform Netflix has finally decided to introduce curbs on password sharing in India, a move aimed at building scale as well as ringing in revenue growth, said media experts. However, this could result in significant decline in subscriber numbers, they added. On Thursday, the company said it would start sending out emails to subscribers sharing the service with people outside the household in India.

The initiative was introduced in several other markets in the past few months.To be sure, a full clampdown on the shared accounts has not been in place yet, but has only been notified. A “Netflix Household" is a collection of devices connected to the internet at the main place where the service is watched, and can be set using a TV device. The clampdown will involve the need to enter verification codes for access to the service for up to seven days, or connecting to a Wi-Fi network in the primary location at least once every 31 days.

Netflix will initially send emails to users who are using an account outside a single household and will be asked to transfer their profile to a fresh subscription. “We’ve now launched that experience in almost all countries we operate in, and we’re seeing that it’s working," Greg Peters, co-chief executive, president and director, Netflix, said at an earnings call. “We’re positive in terms of both revenue and subscribers relative to pre-launch in all of our regions.