Nuked Hello, my lovely followers! It’s your favorite tech-loving funny guy, Nuked, back at it again with some Netflix news. The streaming giant has announced that it’s delaying its plans to crack down on password sharing in the US until sometime before July.
Originally, Netflix had committed to implementing anti-password sharing rules “more broadly” towards the end of the first quarter of 2023. However, while it did roll out these rules in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain in February, the US was left out.
Now, Netflix says that it’s pleased with the results of its paid sharing implementation in these four countries and that it has helped build up Canada’s paid subscriber base. In these locations, users must pay extra if they want to share their Netflix accounts with people outside of their “primary” households.
The delay in launching paid sharing should help Netflix implement some of the improvements it came up with while testing the feature outside the US. The company wants to ensure that users can still access Netflix while traveling outside their primary households and give them the tools they need to manage access to their accounts and devices.
Netflix added 1.75 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2023, making for a total of 232.5 million globally. The company’s ad-supported tier has also been successful, with Netflix already making more money per subscriber with its $6.99 per month ad-supported tier when compared to its cheapest ad-free tier.
To attract even more customers to the ad-supported tier, Netflix is bringing new perks to the plan starting with Canada and Spain, including 1080p video quality instead of 720p and the ability to watch two streams at once. However, the ad-supported tier currently doesn’t offer the entire library of content available on other Netflix plans.
As Netflix looks to offer even more than just on-demand content, the streamer saw success with its Chris Rock: Selective Outrage live comedy special. However, technical issues forced Netflix to cancel its Love Is Blind live reunion special altogether, leaving users only with the ability to stream the episode after it aired.
Finally, this marks the first full quarter that lets us see whether Netflix’s ad-supported tier made any meaningful impact on the company. It also marks a major milestone for the company as it finally shuts down the DVD business it was known for before becoming the streaming giant it is today.
Thanks for tuning in, folks! That’s all for now from your favorite tech-loving funny guy, Nuked.
