Daily U.S. signups for Netflix rose in the first few days after the streaming company’s password-sharing crackdown went into effect on May 23, data from research firm Antenna showed.

The news sent the company’s shares up 2.3 percent to $418.92 in early trading.

Looking for new ways to make money in a shrinking market and a tough economy, Netflix moved to regulate the sharing of account passwords with friends and family — a drastic change for a company that once tweeted that “love is sharing the password”.

Netflix estimated that more than 100 million households have provided login credentials to people outside their homes. Under the new rules, US customers can add a member outside their home for an additional fee of $8 per month.

According to Antenna, that calculation seems to have paid off as the company recorded nearly 100,000 daily signups on both May 26 and May 27.

Netflix, which has expanded its crackdown to more than 100 other countries, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The streaming video pioneer saw its four biggest days of U.S. user acquisition in 4-1/2 years after the turnaround as Antenna covered the company.

The recent increase also exceeded levels seen during the initial US COVID-19 lockdowns in March and April 2020, according to Antenna, which sources data from third-party data collectors who collect online purchase receipts with permission. , track credit, debit and banking data details.