• by Wayne Friedman , June 9, 2023

Just days after saying it would crack down on password sharing, Netflix saw nearly 100,000 daily sign-ups on both May 26 and May 27.

Since its decision to curb password sharing, Netflix had the four single largest days of U.S. user acquisition in four-and-a-half years, according to Antenna, a research company that covers the subscription economy.

In the months before the move to curb password sharing, Netflix was adding between 30,000 to 50,000 sign ups a day.

“Cancels also increased during this period, but not as much as sign-ups,” writes Brendan Brady, media & entertainment lead of Antenna. “The ratio of sign-ups to cancels since May 23rd is up 25.6% compared to the previous 60-day period.”

Antenna sources its data from data collection partners, contributing millions of permission-based, consumer opt-in, raw transaction records.

Starting on May 23, Netflix has been offering those who have been using passwords from family members, or other subscribers, a deal where they would pay $7.99/month for the privilege of continuing to get the service. This would be about half the original price for Netflix's "Standard" ad-free platform is $15.49.

Netflix has had a churn rate as low as 2.3% recently. Some analysts have been expecting that number to now climb -- especially among young Netflix subscribers.

According to a survey from Harris X and Samba TV, among the 37% of current Netflix subscribers who said they would cancel their account if they could no longer share their password with people outside their homes, 52% were Gen Z and 51% were millennials.