{"id":653824,"date":"2013-04-22T18:48:24","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T22:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=633297"},"modified":"2013-04-22T18:48:24","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T22:48:24","slug":"netflix-ceo-password-sharing-is-not-a-big-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/653824","title":{"rendered":"Netflix CEO: password sharing is not a big deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings isn\u2019t all too worried about people sharing their passwords with strangers. \u201cWe really don\u2019t think that there is much going on of the \u2018I\u2019m going to share my password with a marginal acquaintance,\u2019\u201d Hastings said during the company\u2019s Q1 2013 earnings call.<\/p>\n

Hastings was asked about password sharing after Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter had estimated in a Bloomberg story<\/a> from Monday that as many as 10 million people may be watching Netflix without paying<\/a>, suggesting that the company may start to crack down on the practice.<\/p>\n

Hastings said that sharing passwords with extended family members is \u201cnot what we would consider appropriate,\u201d but he added that most of the account sharing would happen within the immediate family — something that Netflix wants to make easier with the introduction of both personalized profiles as well as a more expensive family plan.<\/p>\n

Personalized profiles that will allow family members to maintain separate queues and get more personal recommendations will launch internationally within the coming months, the company announced Monday. Netflix has been testing these personalized profiles since the beginning of the year<\/a>, and Hastings said Monday that the response has been positive. \u201cThe key use case is between kids and parents,\u201d he explained, adding that parents have told the company in the past that their experience is suboptimal.<\/p>\n

The company also announced Monday<\/a> that it will launch a new $12 a month family plan that will allow users to stream up to four devices at a time, as opposed to the current two-device streaming limit. However, the company doesn\u2019t expect a huge response to this offering, with Hastings saying Monday that he expect fewer than one percent of subscribers to jump on the offering.<\/p>\n

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