Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown pays off! Streaming platform gains 9.3 million customers – bringing its total subscriber base to almost 270 MILLION

Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing may have been bad news for many of us still lurking on our friends’ accounts.

But for the streaming giant, the risky move has now translated into rising profits and record subscriber numbers.

In the first three months of 2024, Netflix added 9.3 million new customers, bringing its total subscriber base to nearly 270 million.

And with subscription prices rising, this has given the company a quarterly profit of more than $2.3 billion (£1.85 billion), up from $1.3 billion (£1 billion) in 2023.

However, the company also announced that it will stop reporting its subscriber numbers starting next year, raising concerns that growth could soon slow.

Despite price increases, Netflix revealed that year-on-year subscriber growth was the highest in the past twelve months.

In the first three months of the year, subscriber growth rose to 16 percent, compared to just 4.9 percent this time last year.

Much of this growth is likely due to the streaming service’s recent crackdown on password sharing.

After investors were shocked by Netflix’s first net customer loss of 2020, the company implemented a paid sharing system.

Instead of sharing an account with friends, households now have to pay a fee to let other people use their account.

By looking at your device’s IP address and location, Netflix checks whether you’re part of the household paying for the account.

If the service detects what it believes is password sharing, it blocks the device and gives users the option to create their own account.

Although considered a gamble by some at the time, this decision appears to have paid off.

At the end of last year, Netflix added 13 million new subscribers, bringing its total to 260.28 million.

However, Netflix attributes its success to a “drumbeat” of hits that have increased engagement.

The company says its biggest successes included Society of the Snow with 98.5 million views, Fool Me Once with 98.2 million views and Griselda with 66.4 million views.

Netflix now retains the top spot as the most popular streaming service in the world, ahead of Amazon Prime Video, which has 220 million subscribers worldwide.

This growth comes as Netflix has made several changes to the pricing of its subscriptions.

Currently, the cheapest plan with ads costs £4.99 in the UK ($6.99 in the US), compared to £10.99 in the UK ($15.49 in the US) for the ad-free plan.

A premium subscription, including HD streaming and additional members, now costs £17.99 in the UK ($23 in the US).

Netflix recently increased the price of basic and premium subscriptions by £1 in the UK ($2 in the US) and £2 in the UK ($2 in the US), respectively.

In the last months of 2023, a large part of the 13 million new subscribers opted for the cheapest subscription with advertisements.

In the twelve countries where advertising is offered, including Great Britain and the US, these subscriptions accounted for 40 percent of new subscribers.

This latest 2024 update does not include a breakdown of subscribers by account type.

However, this will be one of the last times that Netflix offers insight into its subscriber numbers.

In the letter, Netflix announced that it will stop reporting subscriber numbers from the first quarter of 2025.

The company wrote: “In our early days, when we had little revenue or profit, membership growth was a strong indicator of our future potential.

“But now we are generating very substantial profits and free cash flow.”

Explaining the decision, the company also pointed to its new revenue sources, including the addition of paid sharing accounts and different subscription levels.

The letter also points to an expansion in areas such as gaming and sports.

It adds: ‘We are very excited about our highly anticipated live boxing match between Jake Paul and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, which we believe will become a must-watch event this summer.’

However, the announcement raised concerns among investors who saw the decision as a sign that subscriber growth was likely to slow.

Facebook’s parent company Meta and X, formerly Twitter, both stopped reporting subscriber figures as their growth slowed.

Technology and media analyst Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight told MailOnline: ‘The move to stop disclosing quarterly subscriptions from next year will not go down well.

‘The subsequent quarters may be challenging due to seasonality; which tends to underperform compared to other quarters as people spend more time outdoors.”

Immediately after the announcement, Netflix’s share price was almost five percent lower.

However, the share price is still up 30 percent since the start of the year, close to its 2021 peak.