Two-Thirds Of Netflix Password Sharers Say They'll Pay For Own Accounts

Image source: MediaPost

Author: Karlene Lukovitz Source: MediaPost

Recent research by Samba TV and HarrisX may shed further light on how consumers are likely to respond to Netflix having last week moved to cut off free password sharing and charge $7.99 for adding an outside-the-household user. 

On the upside, more than four in 10 of the 2,500 U.S. adults polled at the end of March said they would be willing to pay more to share their account with someone outside of their home, with 41% saying they would pay up to $10 more per month, and another 10% that they would pay up to $15 more.  

Furthermore, 64% of those currently sharing someone else’s Netflix account said that they would subscribe themselves if Netflix banned free password sharing and the host doesn't pay extra to keep them on. Of those, 39% said they would start an account for the ad-supported tier and 25% to an ad-free tier. That includes 76% of Millennials and 75% of males. Among females, 55% said they would establish their own accounts. 

On the flip side, however, 37% of current Netflix subscribers said they would cancel their account if they could no longer share their password with people outside their home. 

That includes fully 52% of Gen Z and 51% of Millennials, and about a quarter of Gen X and baby boomers. 

In short, the password-sharing crackdown appears likely to spur cancellations among younger demographics in particular, but will likely help grow Netflix’s new ad-supported plan, as well as drive significant new revenue via the added fees for sharing with viewers outside the account-holder household. 

The survey sample was representative of U.S. adults, and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.