The measure is far from anecdotal: on May 23, Netflix announced an end to the sharing of account words that had, until then, made many happy. And this in more than a hundred countries, including France. The Californian group claims that "a Netflix account is intended to be shared by people who live in the same household". And, therefore, that outsiders "will have to create their own account to watch Netflix". But what is a household in the sense of the digital giant? How do you know if you belong to this home? What if this is not the case? These are all questions that deserve an answer.
These questions take on even more meaning when we know that some users are required to make regular trips outside their home: business trips, holidays, etc. Here's everything you need to know about these new restrictions.
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Belonging to the Netflix household
The term Netflix household is central to understanding the new measures: it lists all devices connected to the Internet where we mostly watch Netflix. This "primary" viewing location can be set by configuring the Netflix focus in the app's settings. This manual adjustment is done from a TV connected to the platform. In the event that the user does not determine his own home, it will be determined automatically. If the user doesn't have a TV or watch Netflix on it, they don't need to set up a household since the digital giant will do it directly. And this "automatically based on IP address, device IDs and account activity".
Of course, Netflix does not prohibit members of a household from watching their favorite movies and series as soon as they move away. They will still be able to benefit from their account remotely, without changing its settings or preferences. However, users are required to connect to Netflix at least once a month using their household's internet connection. In other words, they must now be present quite frequently in their main streaming location.
If this is not the case, they will no longer be able to use their account remotely. Or, for example, they will have to define a new Netflix home where they have been living for more than a month. Overall, these restrictions should not be too problematic for all one-time or temporary travel.
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Additional subscription or new account, what to choose?
The company offers paid solutions to overcome these situations. The first is to pay a supplement, set at 6 euros in France, to attach the person of your choice. The additional subscriber will have access to all content streamed by the platform, and will have "the freedom to watch Netflix at home or while traveling on any internet-connected device offering the app."
However, there are several limitations that could lead users to create new accounts: first, the limit of additional subscribers is set at one for Standard accounts and two for Premium accounts. In addition, additional subscribers can only watch Netflix on one device at a time. In addition, they have the possibility of having only one profile. This can either be created or taken over via a profile transfer, a mechanism that saves both settings and preferences. This could therefore encourage some consumers to opt for purchasing their own subscription, which would offer them more flexibility.
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These measures should supposedly increase the revenues of Netflix, which intends to invest heavily in new productions. It remains to be seen how French customers will adapt to it.