According to a research report released on Friday, June 9, by research firm Antenna, Netflix saw a surge in subscribers after cracking down on user password sharing.
Based on the company's statistical data, in the first four days after Netflix stopped customers from sharing passwords from May 23 to May 28, the streaming company added an average of 70,000 new subscribers each day in the U.S., with new registrations exceeding 100,000 on two of those days.
Antenna noted that the number of new customers doubled in these four days compared to the previous 60-day average. This marks the best performance since Antenna began tracking this data four and a half years ago. Meanwhile, there was an increase in users cancelling their subscriptions, but not as much as the increase in new registrations.
Antenna collects data from multiple sources, including credit card receipts, bank records, etc., and does not include bundled sales records. Some analysts say that this means the company's statistics on new subscriptions may be much lower than the actual number.
After a slowdown in user growth last year, Netflix has been taking measures to increase revenue. Netflix launched a cheaper, ad-supported subscription option in November and started cracking down on password sharing.
Netflix estimates that as many as 100 million households worldwide use its service without paying. The company tested methods to limit password sharing in Latin America before launching crackdowns on password sharing in more countries/regions, including Spain and Australia.
Netflix experienced subscriber losses for two consecutive quarters last year, a first in its history. In recent quarters, its subscriber numbers have started to grow again, but at a much slower rate than at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Netflix's internal researchers discovered as early as 2019 that its passwords could be shared by users, the company has delayed cracking down on password sharing for years.
In its Q1 shareholder letter, the company stated that account sharing "undermines our ability to invest in and improve Netflix's content products for paid members and grow the business."
Since the crackdown on password sharing went into effect on May 23, Netflix's stock price has risen about 13%.
