Prime Video is not one to let Netflix off the hook for its previous leniency towards password sharing. In response to a 2017 tweet by Netflix that read “Love is sharing a password,” Prime Video’s UK Twitter handle delivered a knockout punch in the form of a graphic. The mock-up of Netflix’s home screen displayed all the user profiles associated with an account, and Prime Video’s account provided a taunting answer to the question, “Who’s watching?” with the reply, “Everyone who has our password,” followed by a heart emoji. The tweet has garnered over half a million likes since it was posted on Thursday.
Netflix, which has cited internal research that as many as 100 households have been sharing passwords, is now implementing a new policy to charge those who pass along login credentials. The crackdown, which the company describes as “paid sharing,” has reached the US this week after taking effect in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain. Subscribers to the company’s most popular plan, which costs $15.49, will have to pay an additional $7.99 for anyone sharing the subscriber’s password.
While newer rivals to Netflix have generally not sought to limit password sharing, Prime Video is tied to the much broader Prime subscription plan, which offers free shipping and other perks. So far, Amazon has been more flexible in allowing adults to be added to a household’s Prime account.
The effort to rein in sharing has been accompanied by Netflix’s launch of a cheaper, ad-supported subscription tier last fall. Wall Street analysts have said that the two initiatives, working in tandem, could generate billions of dollars in supplemental revenue in the coming years. That influx is seen as a difference-maker as the company copes with subscriber saturation in some territories and increased competition in a streaming field it once had practically all to itself.
While clashes between brands are nothing new on social media, particularly in the tech world, Prime Video’s snarky tone contrasts with Jeff Bezos’ magnanimous 2021 tweet about the “impressive and inspiring” success of Netflix’s Squid Game.
