Netflix subscribers are spending less time watching the streaming service, with new figures raising questions about whether the company's password-sharing crackdown has contributed to a longer-term engagement problem.
Research from financial firm Jefferies estimates that the average Netflix member watched 49 hours of content per month in the first half of 2026, down from 66 hours during the same period in 2023. That represents a fall of 17 hours a month, or approximately 26 per cent.
If sustained for a full year, the difference would amount to 204 hours of viewing, equivalent to eight and a half days.
According to a Bloomberg report, Netflix customers are also opening the app on fewer days each month than they did a few years ago. The decline reportedly began around the time the company started restricting password sharing, initially leaving executives expecting the change to be temporary.
Instead, the trend has continued, prompting questions about whether Netflix is giving people enough reasons to keep watching.
Netflix Viewing Hours Fall as Subscriber Engagement Weakens
The decline in viewing time is not the only indication that Netflix users are becoming less active. Data from mobile analytics firm Apptopia found that the share of US subscribers who did not open the Netflix app rose by 16.6 per cent year on year in the third quarter, according to reporting on the findings.
Apptopia also reported a 16.6 per cent year-on-year increase in US churn during the same quarter. Its churn measure tracks users who were active 30 to 60 days earlier but did not open the app in the most recent 30 days. These figures describe different aspects of engagement and should not be treated as interchangeable.
Netflix tracks engagement using a measure known as qualified play days, which records how frequently members use the service. Bloomberg reported that the company's internal figures show customers are accessing the platform on fewer days than they did previously.
Subscriber numbers alone do not reveal how much value people get from a streaming service. A household can continue paying for Netflix while spending more of its leisure time watching television elsewhere, using other entertainment platforms or choosing activities that do not involve streaming.
This is one possible explanation for lower viewing, rather than proof that Netflix subscribers are switching to competitors.
The available figures do not establish that the password-sharing restrictions caused the decline. Competition, programming choices, release schedules and changing viewing habits could also be contributing factors.
Netflix's own viewing report offers another perspective. In July 2026, the company said members watched more than 97 billion hours of content during the first half of the year, its highest total for a six-month period at that point.
The figure demonstrates the scale of its audience, although total viewing hours do not necessarily indicate how frequently individual subscribers use the service. Netflix attributed the increase in total viewing hours to continued audience growth, while Jefferies' estimates point to a decline in average viewing time per member.
Netflix Password-Sharing Crackdown Faces New Questions
Netflix began testing restrictions on password sharing in 2022 before expanding its paid-sharing measures more widely in 2023. The policy was designed to address account sharing outside a household and encourage people who were using someone else's account to obtain their own access.
The strategy helped Netflix turn password sharing into a new source of subscriptions, although the available figures do not quantify how much of its subscriber growth was directly attributable to the policy.
It also changed how people could access the service, particularly those who had become accustomed to watching through accounts paid for by friends or relatives.
Netflix has previously acknowledged that paid sharing affected viewing figures. In its third-quarter 2024 shareholder letter, the company said the change reduced viewing on shared accounts because fewer people were watching through each one.
It also argued that viewing by people who subsequently purchased their own subscriptions was already reflected in its totals. Netflix added that viewing among account-owner households had increased year on year during the first three quarters of 2024.
More recently, Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos acknowledged that US viewership was growing more slowly than the company wanted. During an October 2026 earnings discussion, he said US viewership was 'just not growing as fast as it could or as fast as we'd like'.
His comments point to a challenge for the company, but they do not establish that the decline in average viewing time is responsible for slower growth.
The company is investing in programming and exploring additional formats, including live sports and podcasts, as it tries to give viewers more reasons to return. Its third-quarter 2026 shareholder letter also identified improving entertainment value, using technology to improve the service and increasing monetisation as priorities.
Netflix maintained that engagement remained healthy, offering a different assessment from the concerns raised in recent reporting.
There are reasons not to interpret falling viewing time as proof that Netflix's business model has failed. Research firm Antenna, cited in recent reporting, puts Netflix's US cancellation rate at around two per cent.
That figure measures cancellations rather than viewing frequency, and the available evidence does not establish that lower engagement has led to a mass exodus of subscribers.
The question now is whether Netflix can improve engagement through its programming and product changes while continuing to grow its subscriber base and revenue.
The figures raise questions about how the company can maintain viewing engagement as competition for audiences' time intensifies, but they do not establish that the password-sharing crackdown caused the decline.
