Netflix password-sharing crackdown expands to more countries

Ramping up its efforts to discourage password sharing, Netflix announced that it’s launching a new “add a home” feature in five Latin American countries that will allow subscribers to share their accounts for a fee.

The move, which follows a similar “add extra member” feature that Netflix rolled out to three other countries in March, will allow Netflix users in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to “buy” more homes in which they–or someone else–can use their Netflix accounts. The “additional home” fee in Argentina is 219 pesos a month or $2.99 extra per month in the other four counties.

Besides offering a way for subscribers to “add a home” to their accounts, Netflix said it will start asking users to “verify” devices that are “persistently” being used to stream Netflix outside of a registered home. The process will involve entering a four-digit code emailed to the account holder within 15 minutes.

There’s also a new “Manage Homes” feature will let users keep tabs on where their Netflix accounts are being used as well as remove homes from their accounts.

The move follows a similar effort launched four months in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, in which Netflix rolled out an “add ad extra member” feature that let subscribers add “sub-accounts” for an additional fee.

Netflix has been gradually stepping up its efforts to curb password sharing, a widespread practice that the streaming giant used to tolerate and even tacitly encourage.

Following a disastrous earnings report back in April (the company’s Q2 results are due later on Tuesday), Netflix execs promised to determine “how best to monetize” password sharing while also spinning up an ad-supported tier.

In a blog post, Netflix exec Chengyi Long said the company will be “as thoughtful as possible about how we charge” for sharing Netflix accounts “across multiple homes,” but stopped short of detailing when the “add a home” or “add extra member” functionality might spread to more countries.