Good news, Netflix subscribers: The streamer's crackdown on password sharing is reportedly off to a rocky start, and that could mean a delay in rolling out surcharges globally.
Earlier this year, Netflix unveiled a pilot program that began charging select customers in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru additional fees (currently around €2.99 / €2.50 / €4 AU) for sharing their account passwords with anyone outside of the household who pays the bills. . The trial is still limited to these South American countries, but Netflix has announced its intention to extend this password sharing surcharge worldwide in the "short to medium term."
But a recent report from the Rest of the World (opens in a new tab) suggests that the experiment, at least in Peru, is not going well, with test subjects complaining about the way these surcharges were announced, monitored and implemented. .
According to the publication, which interviewed more than a dozen affected subscribers, most of those involved in the lawsuit were baffled by Netflix's vague definition of "home" and frustrated by the lack of clarity about whether they are eligible for additional fees.
In cases where subscribers have been charged for sharing passwords with people outside the paying household, some say Netflix never officially notified them of the policy change, even though the lawsuit started there more than two months ago.
The nature of the evidence also appears to vary from case to case. Other subscribers claim, for example, that they received account verification notices but ignored them without penalty, while still others claim that password sharing charges took effect as intended.
In response to the confusion, Netflix issued the following statement to both TechCrunch and The Verge: "While we started working on the payment exchange over 18 months ago, we've been clear for five years on the fact that a Netflix account It's for people who live together in a home." The millions of members actively sharing an account in these countries have been notified via email, but given the importance of this change, we are ramping up in-product notifications more slowly, and are happy with the response so far.
The need to "increase in-product notifications" suggests that the streamer will make an active effort to better clarify the parameters of the experience for those involved, though it's clear that password sharing surcharges are here to stay, at least for subscribers. in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru.
By the way, Central and South America are Netflix's least lucrative regions in terms of revenue generated per user. So it makes sense that the company is testing such an ambitious and controversial business model change in these countries.
However, given the obvious confusion surrounding these password sharing surcharges in their current state, despite the streamer's insistence that they are "satisfied with the response," we don't expect Netflix to implement them working in other markets for some time. certain.
It's unclear how long this "during" might last, but judging by the fragility of the company's US subscriber base right now, Netflix needs to make sure these surcharges are introduced as effectively as possible. .