Netflix's Account Sharing Crackdown Is Likely Coming By the End of March

Enjoy getting your free Netflix from your friend's account while it lasts, because it looks like Netflix's account sharing crackdown is imminent.

In today's Q4 and full year 2022 earnings call, Netflix executives said that the rollout of the company's plan to convert "borrowers" - those who are currently using Netflix accounts that are owned by separate households - to paid subscribers will kick off by the end of Q1. That means sometime between now and the end of March this year.

On the call, newly-appointed co-CEO Greg Peters said that the company is confident they've solidified the set of features they want to implement to allow users to both kick borrowers off their accounts, as well as pay extra for additional users or let borrowers transfer their profiles elsewhere. But he acknowledged that Netflix's coming changes "won't be a universally popular move."

Netflix, he went on, expects that some users will cancel their subscriptions over the change. But Peters expects a similar shift to what the company sees when it raises prices. People cancel for a while in frustration, but ultimately come back when there's a show they want to see.

For that reason, the company expects that after projected "modest growth" in subscribers in Q1, Netflix will see some subscriber number fluctuation in the following quarters as some people cancel, while other borrowers create new accounts. But Netflix believes it will eventually level out.

Earlier during today's earnings announcement, we learned that Peters would join current co-CEO Ted Sarandos in the same role as former co-CEO and founder Reed Hastings stepped down. The company also saw its subscriber numbers jump by 7.7 million users in the last quarter.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.