December 23rd, 2022, Lesley Simeon
In a recently published new piracy guidance, the UK Government’s Intellectual Property Office has said sharing “password on streaming services...break(s) copyright law.” Further, password sharing on services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+ could also mean criminal liability for fraud. The guidance is part of the Government’s new campaign (in partnership with Meta) targeting piracy and counterfeit goods online.
The agency has also said that it’s “up to the streaming services to take action through the courts, if required.” While Netflix had not too long ago tweeted about seemingly being okay with password sharing, what do its customers feel about sharing their subscriptions currently?
According to YouGov Profiles - which covers demographic, psychographic, attitudinal and behavioral consumer metrics - a majority (70%) of Netflix’s customers in Great Britain agree with the statement that video and music streaming services should offer more group subscriptions. Of the general GB population, 59% agree with the sentiment too.
Nearly half (46%) of Netflix subscribers agree that "streaming services should not care if they share their user credentials and subscriptions" - so does 40% of the general population.
More than half (52%) of Netflix’s consumers and 43% of the general population agree it’s "more convenient to share a subscription for video and streaming services with other people."
Since first publishing its guidance, the Intellectual Property Office has edited the document to omit any mention of password sharing as well. But whether streaming services choose to aggressively and legally target the practice remains to be seen.
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Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for GB is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.
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