Netflix testing paid accounts for sharing outside households

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Netflix is testing features including one that will allow accounts to be shared outside members' households at an extra cost, the streaming pioneer said on Wednesday.

The company is testing the features in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, allowing members on its standard and premium plans to add up to two people.

Netflix is also studying another feature that will allow members on a basic, standard or premium plan to transfer their profile information to a new account or a sub account, retaining data such as viewing history and personalised recommendations.

“We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our standard and premium plans,” director of innovation content Chengyi Long said in a blog post.

“While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households — impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members.”

The company said it would test the features for their utility before making changes in other parts of the world. Last year, it did a small test in which it required users to re-enter login information, Variety reported.

Netflix in January tempered its growth expectations, projecting customer additions in the first quarter at less than half of Wall Street's expectations, citing the late arrival of expected content.



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