Netflix Knows You’re Using a Friend’s Account to Stream Shows

The streaming platform is keen to add users from other countries, which is why it has launched mobile-only plans.

Many people out there prefer using someone else’s Netflix account and password to watch content on the platform. After all, who doesn’t like free stuff?

And the company, via its recent earnings report has indicated that it knows you are hogging its content without paying for it. Answering one of the investor’s questions, Gregory K. Peters, Chief Product Officer, Netflix said that “I think we continue to monitor it, so we're looking at the situation.”

This most likely implies that Netflix could, in the foreseeable future, look at tweaking its login method at the back end, to make sure people don’t flout rules to access its content.

The password sharing feature has become a popular mode of accessing content on paid streaming channels, without paying for it.

But it’s not just Netflix that bears the impact of it. You’ve got other platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Hotstar also facing this issue.

So, does this mean that Netflix will stop people from sharing passwords from now? To quash those concerns, Peters said Netflix will look at consumer-friendly ways to make the change, without losing out on its existing customers.

“I think we continue to monitor it, so we’re looking at the situation. We’ll see, again, those consumer friendly ways to push on the edges of that.” 

Gregory K. Peters, Chief Product Officer, Netflix

But before you get worried about losing the right to stream content for free, Peters pointed out that, at least for now Netflix has no plans to stop you from streaming content through someone else’s account (phew!). When Peters was asked how Netflix plans to address this issue and whether they are working to fix this, he said;

“I think we’ve got no big plans to announce at this point in time in terms of doing something differently there.”

Gregory K. Peters, Chief Product Officer, Netflix

And rightly so. Netflix, after its growth in the US has stagnated, is eyeing other markets with new plans at lower rates to get more users on board.

For instance, the Rs 199 per month plan caters to mobile-only users, allowing one person to stream content at a time. Ideas like these have already allowed Netflix to prevent people from sharing their account details.

It also introduced a new feature in India, wherein a user was allowed to stream one episode of The Bard of Blood for free.

The company is expected to tweak its strategy in the future to attract more users without hurting its revenue prospects, especially as it will face competition from Apple TV+ and Disney in the coming months.