Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing was a gamble that paid off. Now it’s entering its final phase

Ted Sarandos and Rob Lowe attend the Los Angeles premiere of Netflix's "Unstable" at TUDUM Theater on March 23, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Credit: Gregg DeGuire—FilmMagic/Getty Images)

Netflix’s historically lax attitude towards password sharing by its users helped the company gain the position it has as the world’s most popular video streamer. But this year it started cracking down on the practice, in the hope that doing so would reverse a recent drop in subscriber numbers.

At first, it looked like the move could have been a misfire. Within Spain alone, Netflix lost a million users in three months after its crackdown began there—Canada, New Zealand, and Portugal were also early targets. However, the company stuck to its guns, extending the restrictions to around 100 more countries, including the U.S., in May. And yesterday, the results came in.