Netflix Vows to Crack Down on Password Sharing and Reveals Top 10 Shows and Movies

If you share an account with anyone outside your family, Netflix could terminate it.

Maxim Staff

Oct 22, 2019

Netflix isn’t being very “chill” about people sharing their accounts these days.

During a recent interview regarding third-quarter earnings of 2019, Netflix chief product officer Greg Peters announced that the streaming service is looking for ways to prevent people from swapping passwords and using each other’s accounts.

As Newsweek notes, Netflix’s terms and conditions currently state that “the Netflix service and any content viewed through the service are for your personal and non-commercial use only and may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.

While no aggressive crackdown policies on password sharing have been made official, Peters said, “We continue to monitor [password sharing] so we’re looking at the situation. We’ll see those consumer-friendly ways to push on the edges of that.”

netflix-promo-getty-images — Getty Images

Users are allowed up to five profiles linked to the same account, meaning that in theory, five people in five different locations could all use the same Netflix login. A basic plan costs $8.99 and allows users to stream on only one screen at a time. The standard plan costs $12.99 and covers two screens, while the premium plan costs $15.99 and allows for up to four screens.

Under Netflix’s Passwords and Account Access section, it’s suggested that any account being used by members outside of a single household may be terminated

“The member who created the Netflix account and whose Payment Method is charged (the “Account Owner”) has access and control over the Netflix account and the Netflix ready devices that are used to access our service and is responsible for any activity that occurs through the Netflix account.”

“We can terminate your account or place your account on hold in order to protect you, Netflix or our partners from identity theft or other fraudulent activity.”

The New York Post suggested that one way password sharing could be tracked is by monitoring users’ IP addresses, which shows their location.

In related news, Netflix also recently revealed their most watched shows based on their own viewership data. Per Polygon,

Netflix counts anyone who’s watched 70% of a single episode within four weeks of a series’ premiere as a “viewer” of that show. That means if a Netflix subscriber checks out the first episode and decides not to continue, they count.

For movies, Netflix employs a similar percentage: watch 70% of Bird Box and you’re now a certified statistic. Netflix’s data collection has earned it some skepticism, especially from creators on the platform, and while the company is getting more transparent, it’s still only revealing numbers for certain shows and movies.

Here are Netflix’s top 10 TV shows and movies by millions of viewers: