Editor’s note: Dr. Sarah Glova, the newest regular contributor to WRAL TechWire, is the Founder & CEO of the award-winning digital media firm Reify Media. She is an international public speaker who has spoken from California to Qatar on topics ranging from business and entrepreneurship to tech trends and Smart City initiatives. Sarah has a PhD from NC State in Instructional Technology and previously taught technical writing to engineer and business undergraduates. She serves on the Board of Directors for Innovate Raleigh, an organization dedicated to making Raleigh one of the top five centers for innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.

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RALEIGH – Apparently, Netflix may start charging for “account sharing,” and please hold my avocado toast.

Here’s the thing. I get that this is a morally gray area in my millennial heart.

Is it okay for me to split my Netflix account with my sister? (Hypothetically, of course. Don’t @ me, Netflix.) 

Sarah Glova

It’s like the “trolley problem” thought experiment of our time. If I stay within the number of profiles and approved devices, is it okay to swap passwords, as long as someone is paying the subscription fee? 

I mean, let’s just say—for example’s sake—that my sister pays for Disney+, I pay for Netflix, and we trade accounts. Is it all that different from sharing a book? Or passing our kids’ hand-me-down toys back and forth?

The answer, of course, is yes, it’s different. As with all things digital, the “sharing” rights are a bit trickier than the your-turn-with-Fisher-Price stuff. (Not to mention… Netflix’s terms of service specify that a subscriber’s account “may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.” Hmph.)

Many Netflix users get their accounts from their parents

A recent poll showed as many as 22% of adults use streaming service accounts that their parents pay for. (Slightly lower than the 30% of respondents who reported sharing a phone plan with Mom and Pop.)

Netflix reports big loss in subscribers, forecasts 2M more; stock plunges 23%

A different survey from earlier this year found that around 11% of Netflix users were using someone else’s account

I get it—that probably sounds like a lot of potential revenue to streaming service companies like Netflix. 

But here’s the thing—I’m pretty sure that if streaming services start cracking down on sharing, that won’t necessarily lead to more revenue. I think it may lead to fewer eyeballs. 

In my case, if (again, definitely hypothetically) my sister and I can’t trade accounts, I’m not going to get my own account for everything. 

I’m going to drop some accounts like I dropped Game of Thrones after the red wedding. (Seriously, how did y’all keep going? I’m still having nightmares.)

How to budget for endless streaming?

If streaming services start cracking down on account sharing, we’ll have to make some hard decisions. 

It’ll be tough. I love Netflix, and I’m geeky-proud of my carefully-curated “movies based on books with a strong female lead” subgenre. But Disney+ is where we talk about Bruno, and our 8-year-old is finally old enough to get into Marvel. (Which we have to start before Iron Man’s tech stops seeming cool. My kid has a hoverboard for chrissakes; will Stark’s 2008 gizmos “wow” for much longer?)

Mrs. Maisel is on Amazon Prime, Ted Lasso is on Apple TV, and while I want to tell you I keep HBO for a cool show like Euphoria, we really have it because it means unfettered access to Sesame Street. 

Hulu is where my husband can fall asleep watching golf, and we stream Peacock so we can drink wine and watch a British couple restore a French castle. (Escape to the Chateau—WRAL TechWriter’s own Chantal Allam recommended it! Seriously, it’s so fun, go watch it.)

And there are more—of course. There are so many more we’d consider, if budget didn’t matter. (Except traditional cable. Millennials draw that line hard.)

It’s simply not sustainable for us to pay for all these subscriptions. So if we can’t swap-and-share among family and friends (and the occasional still-logged-in user at our beach house AirB&B), then we’re not going to shell out more money for streaming. 

We’re going to make harder choices. (Looking at you, Amazon Prime. Been waiting to get revenge after you canceled Good Girls Revolt.)

When might we see changes?

Netflix plans “Extra Member” and “Profile Transfer”. The Extra Member feature will ask subscribers to pay extra for anyone on the account who does not live at the primary account residence. 

“Profile Transfer” will allow users who split off from an account to “transfer” all their history and account information when they create a new account (probably to help ease the transition of booted-moochers).

The features will be tested in three countries: Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru. No word yet on when we’ll see these changes in the US.

When those changes do come stateside, I expect to see some serious fallout from any streaming service that tries to crack down too hard on sharing.

Then again… I’m a millennial. I’ve made bold declarations before.

I threatened to leave Facebook when they rolled out the News Feed feature in 2006. (Back when Facebook was exclusively for college students. Yes, I know that means I’m old enough to need eye cream, thankyouverymuch.

Before I turned 30, I swore I wouldn’t use Instagram filters. 

And just a few years ago, I was sure I’d never get the kind of Alexa device that I now own four of. 

I guess what I’m saying is, right now, I’d definitely cancel Netflix if they got serious about cracking down on account sharing. 

Maybe. 

Because then again, if Netflix decided to call “re-do” on the Gilmore Girls reboot… well, then they could have all my money and require retina scan login. (Seriously, Netflix. Stars Hollow deserved better. Just think about it.)

So I acknowledge that a millennial’s stance on anything technology might be… a bit like Tiger King Season 3. There are no definite answers, and anything could happen, so never say never.

More from Sarah Glova:

Building the metaverse: What is it, and are companies up to the challenge?

An experiment gone right—CED Venture Connect 2022 hits the mark