Many users railed against the measures introduced by Netflix against sharing accounts. In Germany, too, since the end of May, users have been asked to add additional members to their subscription for around five euros a month if they want to share access with friends or family outside their own four walls. This step has obviously paid off for Netflix.
As the streaming service announced in its new quarterly report, “paid sharing was successfully introduced in more than 100 countries” in May. Netflix added 5.89 million new subscribers in the second quarter of 2023, which includes April, May and June.
However, additional members are not included here. Apparently, many people forego the option of having friends’ subscriptions extended to other people and are now using their own accounts. A letter to the shareholders states that a similar increase in users is expected for the third quarter. The service now has around 238.4 million paying users worldwide, an increase of eight percent year-on-year.
According to a media report, Netflix has managed to significantly exceed the expectations of several analysts. As the US industry magazine “Variety” reports, it was assumed that the streaming service could gain around 1.77 million users.
According to Netflix, the content of the service is available in more than 190 countries. Efforts to fight shared accounts will be expanded to almost every country in which the company has a presence in the second half of the year.
Since May 23, Netflix has been asking subscribers in Germany and Austria to register so-called additional members in emails if they share their account with others outside their household. 4.99 euros per month are due for each additional member. Anyone who has booked a “Premium” subscription with two additional members then pays a total of almost 28 euros per month (as of July 20, 2023). A “standard” subscription with advertising is available for EUR 4.99 per month, a “basic” subscription for EUR 7.99 and the “standard” subscription without advertising for EUR 12.99.
