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Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is actually a very good question. I know people who literally do this, though not only moving "households" every few months, but moving countries. TBH, my guess is NFLX's solution is going to be "Yeah, fuck those 12 people who do that. We've got bigg^H^H^H^H more lucrative problems."
Netflix should invest in learning about ^w :D
(Yes, yes, is joke.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup. Especially given their propensity to cancel shows on a whim.
It's become a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, like how people didn't trust Google to keep Stadia running so why would they buy full price games on it? Why would I pay for Netflix and get excited about their shows when so many get canned with no conclusion? But as more people say that and don't bother watching until there's a whole finished story, then even more shows get canceled earlier because nobody watched the…
That's still netflix's fault. They need to stop expecting the world to flock to their newest shows the moment they are released, there's too much competing for our attention, and instead invest in stories and creators they believe in, and make sure that they're always funding and releasing a complete and quality product. It doesn't matter if a show is only one season, so long as that one season has a satisfying conclusion.
Stories written to span multiple seasons are fine too, but they need to commit to seeing that show to its conclusion. Even if a show doesn't perform very well, some percentage of Netflix subscribers will enjoy it making it an asset for their library and on a long enough timescale it'll be worth it, but if they really want to cancel a show before the story has a chance to reasonably end, they'd be better off removing it entirely from their library. Right now their library is filled with shows that will entice new watchers only to piss them off when they learn the plug was pulled early, or which will sit unwatched by the people who have already heard that netflix screwed the show and its fans over and that's a liability.
This is a US rollout of a restriction that they have already deployed in Latin America and Spain among other countries [1], that they restrict your account to a single household. So, no password sharing with friends. I am honestly surprised they keep pushing this. In Spain, Netflix is among the most expensive options, and the most expensive if you consider the features you get (the 7,99 euro option just gives you HD,…
1 million people canceled their netflix accounts in Spain over the change. The new policy has already cost them several million dollars. That's a pretty major effect. Maybe they think people sharing passwords costs them more over time, or maybe they're just willing to hemorrhage users now hoping that they'll somehow win some back later under tighter restrictions, and at higher prices. It still seems like a gamble to me, considering they have a ton of competition with better libraries.
I think cracking down on the worst offenders (hundreds of people all over the globe using the same account) and keeping accounts to a reasonable number of simultaneous streams would have been a much better option.
This is a US rollout of a restriction that they have already deployed in Latin America and Spain among other countries [1], that they restrict your account to a single household. So, no password sharing with friends. I am honestly surprised they keep pushing this. In Spain, Netflix is among the most expensive options, and the most expensive if you consider the features you get (the 7,99 euro option just gives you HD,…
I'm not surprised. One of the big problems that faces Netflix is market saturation. Lots of companies like Google or Facebook can grow profits by getting you to use their service more. The more you use, the more they earn. Netflix can only get more revenue by getting more paying users or raising prices on existing users.
In the United States and Canada, Netflix has 74.4M subscribers. The US has 124M households and Canada has 15M (139M total). 54% of US/Canadian households already subscribe to Netflix. If each of those paying subscriptions is also being used by a second non-paying household, that means that 100% of US/Canada has Netflix. If that's true, the only way for Netflix to gain revenue would be by raising prices or eliminating the account-sharing and hoping that more people will be paying customers.
I'm sure Netflix has run the numbers based on their internal data. They already know who is sharing accounts. If 50% of accounts are sharing, that means that the 74.4M subscribers becomes 111.8M households and 80% of US/Canada. Basically, Netflix should know how close to the total number of households already use Netflix (even if they aren't paying for it).
If 80% of households already have access, you've basically hit your growth limit. You can't expect 100% - only 87% of households have broadband internet in the US and some people just won't be interested. It seems reasonably likely that Netflix is pretty close to their growth limit in the US/Canada without going after account sharing. If 50% of accounts are sharing, they've probably hit 90-95% penetration in the US/Canada given that 13% of households don't have the internet required for Netflix.
I'm not surprised simply because it seems like the only avenue of growth for Netflix in many markets. Netflix doesn't charge you per show. They don't have add-on packages for sports or whatever. If you love your local take-out place, you might order from there more. If you love Facebook, you watch more of their ads. If you love Netflix, you don't buy a new account each day. To keep growing in many areas, Netflix needs to break up account sharing.
I really dislike how every corporate communication regarding an “update” now means “here’s how we’re making things worse for you.” I know honesty has never really been the fundamental value of public relations initiatives, but it would be refreshing to occasionally see a company saying that they’re putting the squeeze on customers because they need to protect their margins or even just because they can. The formerly-…
The idea that many updates are now hostile is a disturbing but real hallmark of the cloudified age, in particular. Users used to have more choice, to have the power to decide to update.
Now they cannot manage the software; that than being a user, they are now merely a client.
I was not familiar with how much Netflix costs these days, either the subscription or extra sharing slots. Pasted here in case it's helpful. Sorry if this is redundant, didn't find with ctrl-f.
Standard with ads: $6.99 / month
Basic: $9.99 / month
Standard: $15.49 / month (extra member slots\* can be added for $7.99 each / month)
Premium: $19.99 / month (extra member slots\* can be added for $7.99 each / month)
Here's an update: I'm canceling my account. The amount of entertainment I and the three people I share with get out of Netflix isn't worth the 4x cost increase. Maybe the other guys will get accounts, I don't know. I'm sure for some people it's worth it.
If two of them get an account, or you change your mind later, it's a huge win for Netflix.
Netflix has done the math and already tested this policy in several countries. They would never be rolling this out in their home market of the US if they weren't extremely confident that new subscriptions will outweigh cancellations.