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How Many Young Consumers Use Someone Else’s Netflix Password Anyway?

After Netflix password sharing nearly got shut down, YPulse asked young consumers exactly how they feel about sharing accounts—and what they’d do if they couldn’t…

Written and Edited by the YPulse Editorial Team

Feb 27 2023
North America

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The vast majority of Gen Z and Millennials do not think there should be a charge to share passwords for streaming services—shocking, we know
Just under half of young consumers use someone else’s Netflix account or share their own currently
Most who use someone else’s password would stop watching Netflix rather than get their own account if the rules did change

Password sharing has been a highly contested topic for streaming services for a while, but recently, Netflix took a firm step to limit it—and users were not happy. A change to their Terms of Service page on February 2 indicated users would soon be charged a fee for having multiple users of one account outside their household. This meant that unless all users under one account are linked to the same home address, the account owner will be charged an extra fee per person on top of the monthly subscription cost. This was, unsurprisingly, not a hit with their users—and now, YPulse data shows 79% of Gen Z and Millennials agree that “Streaming service platforms shouldn’t charge for shared passwords.” The backlash was quick and intense: social media was swept with complaints suggesting Netflix’s content was no longer worth its price, and that some were ready to cancel their account altogether in response. Because, while good for Netflix’s bottom line, it would certainly have negatively impacted college students who...