Regardless of the decision on password sharing, I hope they create a way to port a profile into a new account. I wouldn’t want to lose my saved movies and viewing history if forced to switch accounts.
Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing
531–540 of 966 posts
Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing
#532It would really help if the headline differentiates between a "user" and a "customer." If a bunch of people who had someone else's password are no longer able to watch Netflix, that is probably what Netflix wants. If millions of customers have cancelled their subscriptions, that is not what they want.
The article makes it sound as if there were 660k people who are no longer watching on someone else's account and 330k customers who have cancelled. Not sure if that is a big deal to Netflix or not without more historical data.
Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing
#533Netflix really messed this up. They shouldn't have tried to tackle password sharing. Instead they should have enforced concurrent streams and let people pay for more concurrent streams. Psychologically it's very different and people paying for the premium plan of 4 streams would probably not be affected.
I'm sure this move is partially because of copyright holders. Bet that they get their cut per stream and account.
My hypothesis is that Netflix knows that account sharing is a net positive, as it cannot be curbed without losing a significant amount of subscribers, and many people aren't willing to pay $10 per account.
Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing
#534Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Netflix it's power is innovation. Think Bandersnatch. A one-off thing from 5 years ago that hasn't been replicated since and nobody really cares about now?
I mean, that is exactly my point. I’m not saying HBO or Apple TV+ (what a name..) couldn’t do it, just that they seem much less poised to. Funny how saying Bandersnatch was innovative gets HN absolutely livid.
>Funny how saying Bandersnatch was innovative gets HN absolutely livid.
... huh? I didn't say Bandersnatch wasn't innovative and my feathers are far from ruffled. I just don't see how citing one thing from five years ago that no other streamer, nor Netflix themselves, have replicated since (correct me if I'm wrong) is a strong is example of Netflix being "innovative".
I'd argue that other streaming providers would've explored this sort of thing already if they felt there was enough interest. Anecdotally, I'm in multiple communities that involve the discussion of film and television and people just aren't asking for that sort of thing.
Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing
#535Earlier quoted context omitted.
I bought and ripped the stuff we tend to rewatch a lot (The Office, Friends, Star Trek, Stargate, etc.) and am serving them from a local Plex instance. I occasionally pirate episodes of TV shows that would require another subscription (already paying for Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO and Prime). Honestly, I'd much rather cancel all that and just pay à la carte for content as long as it's something reasonable (like $0.5…
This, absolutely this, for my wife and I. Movies and shows that we love, we also download because it's often been inevitable that they get dropped from a streaming service at some point. Or, they're moved over to a new service (see: Peacock/Office) and we don't think that paying an additional monthly fee just to access that one show that we only occasionally watch is worth it. Similarly, if the streaming service cont…
> Similarly, if the streaming service continues to play ads despite paying for the service, we will just pirate the content.
Why though? Why don't you just watch some other content? There's so much out there, and you have so many choices, available without any ads, and also if you choose you can consume free content as well.
Given that you have these alternatives, why do you feel you have the right to nonetheless violate IP laws because you don't like that a subset of content carries ads or restrictions?
Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing
#536Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly! But that's just how it goes. Once leadership identifies a problem, it takes a lot to dissuade them. They saw password sharing as a fixable problem, an area of loss revenue that they had to do something about to counter the metrics of stagnating subscriber growth. Very little would change that, even though your approach would prove to be quite beneficial
I wonder if those responsible will take this as a lesson learned, or will brush it off as “well they wouldn’t have paid anyway”
The problem they have now is not that people who didn't pay wouldn't pay. They are now losing people who actually paid.
Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing
#537Netflix really messed this up. They shouldn't have tried to tackle password sharing. Instead they should have enforced concurrent streams and let people pay for more concurrent streams. Psychologically it's very different and people paying for the premium plan of 4 streams would probably not be affected.
I think the UX of a stream limit matters...
If, for example, when you click "play", some other user on your account gets kicked off with an error about hitting the stream limit, then you will forever be worried about hitting that limit and inconveniencing family - so you may upgrade sooner. Being kicked out mid show and unable to continue until you click to upgrade is going to lead to lots of people upgrading in frustration.
Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing
#538Losing 1M users is not good, but isn't the real question how many accounts they lost? > The move was linked to a fall in users of more than a million, two thirds of whom were using someone else’s password, according to Kantar’s research, which is based on surveys of household streaming habits. This makes it seem like they lost 333k customers. I don't know how many customers they have in Spain, but that sounds like a…
Apple, Google and Amazon would seem to have a big advantage here in doing Family Accounts. By putting someone "in your family" you at least feel like you're giving them access to a lot of stuff, so you probably don't do it with friends as much. Plus there is some unique tracking by account even if it's just an email address. I never tried it but I would assume I can't be in multiple "families" at the same time on Pri…
Netflix has family accounts. But god forbid you live in another country and pay the subscription for your boomer parents back home - as not just a courtesy, but also as they’re not capable at all of managing things digitally. Apparently this is a racket
Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing
#539Netflix really messed this up. They shouldn't have tried to tackle password sharing. Instead they should have enforced concurrent streams and let people pay for more concurrent streams. Psychologically it's very different and people paying for the premium plan of 4 streams would probably not be affected.
Netflix has been enforcing concurrent streams for a while now, no? Four adults that live in four different houses sharing one Netflix account might not ever bump up against the four concurrent stream limit. Their concurrent usage might be quite similar to a family of four under one roof. But critically, the four adults are all technically capable of paying for their own subscriptions, while the children of the family…
> Four adults that live in four different houses sharing one Netflix account might not ever bump up against the four concurrent stream limit. Their concurrent usage might be quite similar to a family of four under one roof.
Realistically, the case to allow password sharing is four family members, living under the same roof, but not sharing the same internet connection.
If the family is watching Netflix on their own phones over cellular (respectively: on train, out walking, at work, at school), you can't impose password-sharing restrictions on the account without fucking more than one of them over.
Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing
#540Netflix really messed this up. They shouldn't have tried to tackle password sharing. Instead they should have enforced concurrent streams and let people pay for more concurrent streams. Psychologically it's very different and people paying for the premium plan of 4 streams would probably not be affected.
Did they? This should certainly reduce their expenses related to their streaming infrastructure. And if most of the affected people weren't paying anyway, it will have little or no effect on their revenue. It will result in less word of mouth, and possibly a bit of negative press.
If subscriptions don't go up afterwards and streaming infrastructure costs are a sufficiently small portion of their total expenses, then I could see it being a net negative. In any case, their biggest problem is that their content has become so mediocre, but this action won't have any effect on that.