By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Netflix says it will not commence a crackdown on its password sharing till any date around April and June this year, as the number of subscribers has hit a record high of 232.5 million in the first quarter of the year.
The streaming television giant reported a quarterly profit of $1.3 billion, in line with expectations, but said it had delayed a broad crackdown on sharing of account passwords “to improve the experience for members.”
Netflix said it expects to begin rolling out its options for paid password sharing this quarter instead.
“It’s clear that the company wants to manage any fallout from the new strategy,” said Third Bridge analyst Jamie Lumley.
Some membership and revenue benefits resulting from the move were postponed, Netflix said in a letter to shareholders.
Netflix has dabbled with “borrower” or “shared” accounts in a few markets but plans to roll them out in the United States and elsewhere this month, co-chief executive Greg Peters said in a streamed earnings interview.
Netflix said it is taking time to make sure subscribers have seamless access to the service away from home or on various devices such as tablets, TVs or smartphones.
Market tracker Insider Intelligence forecasts that Netflix will bring in $770 million in ad revenue from the new tier this year and that revenue figure will top $1 billion next year.
As growth at Netflix dropped last year, the Silicon Valley-based streaming company focused on creating a lower-priced subscription tier with advertising.
