Netflix loses more than one million Spanish users in the first quarter of 2023.
The decline was a response to Netflix’s new policy of restricting users from password sharing. While the streaming giant believes that this decline is temporary and users will get their own accounts soon.
According to Bloomberg, a market research group Kantar believes that it is a sign that Netflix’s crackdown could backfire.
Netflix started from Spain to implement their new policy in early February. The firm introduces a monthly fee for users who want to share their login details with another household. Moreover they took technical measures to detect such activity.
This move led to a major decline of users, more than half of them were using someone else’s credentials. The data is according to Kantar’s research, which is based on surveys of household streaming habits.
“It’s clear this steep drop is due to the crackdown,” said Dominic Sunnebo, global insight director at Kantar’s Worldpanel Division. In addition to the loss of a major chunk of subscribers , though they were not paid. It is a huge blow to the firm in terms of word of mouth recommendation for its shows and services.
Spanish users have to pay €5.99 ($6.57) a month to share their login credentials.. A similar fee was introduced in Portugal, Canada and New Zealand after a roll-out in several Latin American countries.
