Subscribers in these countries are being asked to pay an extra fee if they want to share their subscription with someone who lives in a different household. The move follows a crackdown on sharing passwords in South America, and the rule will be introduced in the UK before the end of March.

In a blog post, Chengyi Long, Director of Product Innovation at Netflix, said: “We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account with features like profiles and multiple streams. While these have been hugely popular, they’ve also created confusion about when and how you can share Netflix. Today, over 100 million households are sharing accounts — impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films. So over the last year, we’ve been exploring different approaches to address this issue in Latin America, and we’re now ready to roll them out more broadly in the coming months, starting today in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain. Our focus has been on giving members greater control over who can access their account.”

“We value our members and recognise that they have many entertainment choices. A Netflix account is intended for one household and members can choose from a range of plans with different features. As always, we’ll refine these new features based on member feedback so that we continue to improve Netflix in the years ahead,” Long added.

Members on a Netflix Standard or Premium plan in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain can add an extra member sub account for up to two people they don’t live with — each with a profile, personalized recommendations, login and password — for an extra CAD$7.99 a month per person in Canada, NZD$7.99 in New Zealand, €3.99 in Portugal, and €5.99 in Spain.