Netflix ends password sharing in India

Streaming media giant Netflix has announced that it has ended password sharing in India.

The step will apparently help the company improve its revenue. The company has started sending emails to members in this regard.

“Starting today, we will send an email to members who are sharing Netflix outside their household in India,” the company said in a statement.

“A Netflix account is for use by one household. Everyone living in that household can use Netflix wherever they are — at home, on the go, on holiday — and take advantage of new features like Transfer Profile and Manage Access and Devices,” it added.

Netflix is one of India’s most popular streaming platforms, but its subscription plans are relatively expensive compared to other streaming platforms in the country. According to industry estimates, Netflix's paid base in India hovers between 8 million and 10 million. It has already ended password sharing in over 100 countries in May.

"This is a good move to shore up subscriptions in India. Netflix will surely gain subscriptions even though they might lose some shared access viewers in the short run," said Uday Sodhi, senior partner, Kurate Digital Consulting, a digital transformation and strategy consulting firm.

A senior media analyst said on condition of anonymity that password sharing and piracy are rampant in the Indian market. The analyst expects Netflix to gain incremental subscribers due to restrictions on password sharing.

"There is a gap between their active user base and their actual paid base, which means that there is a lot of password sharing and piracy. It's early days to make a prediction, but the clampdown on password sharing will help them get incremental subscribers in India," he added.

Stay tuned to this space for more updates!