Netflix subscription numbers rise amid password-sharing crackdown

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On May 23, Netflix started to email accounts in the U.S. who are sharing their passwords and access to the service with others outside of their home. Weeks later, analysis indicates there is an uptick in new subscribers that seemingly correlates with Netflix's move.

According to Antenna, Netflix had the four single largest days of U.S. user acquisition in the last four and a half years, just after it started to warn account sharers. The analytics firm said Netflix enjoyed nearly 100,000 daily sign-ups on both May 26 and May 27.

Since sending warnings out, the average daily sign-ups for Netflix has reached 73,000, which is a 102% increase over the average for the previous 60 days. The spikes in sign-ups were also higher than those observed during the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns in March and April of 2020.

While sign-ups rose, so did the numbers of those canceling their subscription, though not to the same level. Cancellations were up 25.6% compared to the previous two months' average.

While the figures are beneficial to Netflix, it is a collection of data that's produced externally to Netflix, rather than Netflix-supplied data, so there's a chance that the real numbers may be different.

Subscribers who received the email were given the option to add an extra member to an account for a $7.99 monthly fee, or they could potentially export a profile for an out-of-home user for them to create their own full account.