Netflix combating password-sharing with ‘Profile Transfer’

Netflix has been struggling to regain subscribers and recover its revenue. Earlier this year, the company began testing new ways to prevent users from sharing their passwords with others. Now Netflix is rolling out a new “Profile Transfer” feature that will let users migrate their personal profile from someone else’s account to a new one.

How does Netflix’s “Profile Transfer” work?

The company announced on Monday (via Variety) that Netflix users can now transfer an existing profile to another Netflix account without losing content recommendations, viewing history, My List, saved games, and other personal settings.

Netflix says the “much requested” feature will help users in many situations, such as moving out of a household and relationship endings. A Netflix user will be able to keep all their preferences and content saved while moving to a brand new account. But in the background, this is a way for Netflix to motivate those who use a friend or family member’s account to, instead, pay for their own subscription.

A few months ago, Netflix put into action its first measures to crack down on password-sharing. In some Latin American countries, Netflix can now identify multiple logins to the same account but in different locations. As a result, these customers are required to pay a $2.99 (depending on local currency) fee for “Extra Members.”

As for the new “Profile Transfer” feature, it will be available worldwide for all Netflix subscribers starting today.

9to5Mac’s Take

Netflix is certainly having a hard time keeping its subscribers. The company confirmed that it lost more than 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, and the numbers show that more people continue to migrate to other streaming platforms.

From January 2021 to August 2022, Netflix’s global market share dropped from 32% to 27%. At the same time, research data reveals that more affordable platforms like Disney+, HBO Max, and Apple TV+ have been attracting more subscribers. Netflix blames password-sharing for losing so many subscribers, but the problem goes far beyond that.

Consumers now have a variety of options when it comes to streaming platforms, and many of them are much cheaper than Netflix. For instance, while the Apple TV+ subscription costs $4.99 per month, Netflix charges $19.99 per month for the 4K plan with support for up to four simultaneous screens.

In an attempt to compete with these platforms, Netflix will launch next month a new tier supported by ads that will cost $6.99 per month with content in 720p resolution. However, it’s hard to predict how many consumers will be willing to pay for a subscription with advertisements.

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