Hundreds of thousands of people have signed up for new Netflix subscriptions in the days since the streaming giant began charging people extra if they have other users on their account.
That’s according to statistics from streaming data analyst Antenna, as reported earlier Friday by The Wall Street Journal. Antenna says Netflix has seen “the four largest days of user acquisition in the US” since Antenna began recording subscriptions for the service four and a half years ago.
“Based on the most recent data available, Netflix saw nearly 100,000 signups per day on both May 26 and May 27,” Antenna said in a post. “These exceed the spikes in Antenna enrollments seen during the initial US COVID-19 lockdowns in March and April 2020.”
Cancellations have also increased since Netflix changed its policy on who you can have on your account, but not as much as new signups.
Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read more: Netflix Password Sharing Crackdown: What It Means for You
How much extra does it cost to share a Netflix password?
Netflix introduced the password sharing surcharge late last month, and it now costs you an extra $8 on top of your subscription fee if someone outside of your household shares your account.
If you pay for the Premium level of Netflix at $20 per month, you can add two more people to your account. If you are on the standard $15.50 plan, you can only have one additional member. The $10 basic plan doesn’t allow for additional members, and if you’re on Netflix’s new advertising plan — which already has 5 million subscribers — and pay just $7 a month for the streaming service, you can’t add additional members either.
Ad-supported Netflix is missing some shows and movies, but on the other hand, ads don’t play over everything, a CNET review of the service found.
What to do if you’re booted from a Netflix account
If you’ve shared someone else’s account in the last few years, your attempt to let them foot the bill for your streaming service may be over. If they’ve said they plan to send you packing, one thing you can do is transfer your existing account to a new membership that you pay for yourself.
If you decide Netflix isn’t worth it anymore, other streaming services like Max, Disney Plus, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video don’t currently have an extra fee for sharing passwords.
For more on streaming, here are CNET’s tips for paying less for your streaming service, and here are our picks for the best streaming services of 2023.
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