Netflix is recording its first customer decline in more than a decade.
While Netflix forecast it would add 2.5 million customers this quarter, the company instead lost 200,000 customers. This excludes the 700,000 Russian customers lost after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Factors that have led to the decline, according to Netflix, include increased competition, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and password sharing.
“We’ve always tried to make sharing within a member’s household easy, with features like profiles and multiple streams. While these have been very popular, they’ve created confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared with other households,” Netflix statement said.
Going forward, the company is considering charging customers for password sharing instead of banning it. It plans to test the change in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. Users can add up to two profiles for 2,380 Chilean pesos, 2.99 US dollars and 7.9 Peruvian sol.
According to Netflix’s Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters, it will take a year to conduct the tests and begin enforcing the change, which will be enforced later in the United States.