Netflix debuted an ad-supported streaming plan last November in an attempt to add more subscribers
Netflix Inc. NFLX, -3.35% is cutting the price of its subscription service in over 30 countries as the company is cracking down on password sharing.
Those Netflix subscription price cuts are happening in countries including Yemen, Jordan, Libya, Iran, Kenya, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Nicaragua, Ecuador and others, according to a Thursday report from The Wall Street Journal.
“We’re always exploring ways to improve our members’ experience. We can confirm that we are updating the pricing of our plans in certain countries,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement, although specifics for the countries impacted were not given.
The U.S. is not one of the countries involved in the price cut, the report says.
The move represents a stark contrast to many other streaming platforms, which have increased their prices in recent years, including Disney and Amazon AMZN, +0.03% Prime — Netflix increased prices for its U.S. offering as recently as 2022.
The news comes as Netflix is cracking down on people who share Netflix accounts. In several countries, including Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain, Netflix is rolling out anti-password-sharing tactics including establishing a primary address for the account, and giving subscribers the option to add an extra member to their account for an additional monthly fee.
Netflix may soon be rolling out some of those new rules in the U.S., but the timing and scope of those changes are not yet known.
Netflix currently has four monthly subscription options: basic with ads ($6.99), basic ($9.99), standard ($15.49) and premium ($19.99). For all four service tiers in the U.S., an unlimited number of devices can be used to log in under a single account — but only a certain number of users can stream the service at once, a Netflix representative told MarketWatch. The number of concurrent streams allowed varies by plan, such as two screens streaming at the same time on the standard plan, or up to four screens streaming at once on the premium plan.
The streaming giant debuted its ad-supported plan last November to compete in the streaming wars with services like Walt Disney Co.’s DIS, +0.05% Disney+, Apple’s AAPL, +0.33% Apple TV+ and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.’s WBD WBD, +2.01% HBO Max.
Netflix had 230.75 million subscribers worldwide at the end of the fourth quarter, but the company believes another 100 million people are using Netflix via shared login information.
The company once reveled in the idea of people sharing their account information with one another— tweeting “Love is sharing a password” six years ago — but it’s now attempting to monetize more of its user base.
Shares of Netflix moved 5.75% lower during Thursday’s trading, and are down 19.08% over the past 12 months.