Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#911

Post by copperx » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 1:19 PM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #697

oefnak wrote: post #674

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> money for two houses > no money for separate accounts for family members

That's not what GP said. GP complained about having to pay as if there were multiple households benefiting, when it's actually just one household, albeit a wealthy one. If NFLX said "we're going to start charging rich people more, based on zip code," there would be a revolt. I would assume it's not their intention to try to "go after" this segment and make them pay more (since it's a small portion of their users, and…

> If NFLX said "we're going to start charging rich people more, based on zip code," there would be a revolt.

Revolt? Price discrimination is illegal.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#912

Post by tekknik » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 1:21 PM UTC

the_af wrote: post #894

tekknik wrote: post #841

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If more users have accounts then licensing costs are less of a burden to Netflix.

Yes, but the real problem are rising licensing costs, not account sharing.

That has always been a burden. If customers want something then the person selling it sets the price.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#913

Post by JustLurking2022 » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 1:22 PM UTC

The dumbest part of this is that they're doing it at a time I've never cared less about Netflix content - they lost a lot of the best reruns and only put out 1 decent show every couple years. Even though this doesn't affect me, I still question why I still have Netflix.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#914

Post by cmh89 » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 1:30 PM UTC

bbarn wrote: post #692

ddoolin wrote: post #647

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Devil's advocate: Is their growth high enough? In our current system, you always have to be growing enough, not just profitable.

That's just "shareholder value". Combine it with everyone who owns stock expecting it to go up all the time, and you get that mentality. Stocks were once a vote of confidence in a company and their long term vision, and now it's just hyper-analyzed gambling with as short a return time as possible. Nearly everything that's wrong with the current economy and welfare of your average man in the US can be traced in some w…

>Nearly everything that's wrong with the current economy and welfare of your average man in the US can be traced in some way to the stock market

Just the basic fact that an economy that is good for workers, where they are more in demand and make more money, is bad for their retirement because the stock market goes down, is really all you need to know to understand why the stock market is a plague.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#915

Post by tommit » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 1:31 PM UTC

lnenad wrote: post #874

tommit wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt these two scale linearly, otherwise how would they make money? Also, I could imagine that the people that want their comfort show to be running in the background 24/7 are the ones that won't cancel their subscriptions. It's the occasional watcher that will most likely deem netflix worthless to them, so their subscriber to usage cost ratio might even worsen. I'm just guessing here though, obviously.

I definitely agree, it all depends on their profit margin correlation to their infra cost. For a normal SAAS I'm assuming it's not very strong, but for a video streaming business, I think the cost is much higher and therefore a lot more highly correlated. We also need to take into account the reasoning behind this decision. They're also removing multiples of users but losing only one membership so it's even more skew…

All good points, especially the one vs many membership to viewers ratio. You're probably right (at least I hope so) that someone will have run the numbers. I guess we will see.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#916

Post by petee » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 1:34 PM UTC

WheatMillington wrote: post #625

ho_schi wrote: post #569

Netflix: ”You get two parallel streams with your family. Family means trust and password sharing.“ Customers: “Farewell pirating. We pay a fair flat and it is automatically shared between Netflix and artists. Great!“ Netflix: “We increase the flat permanently. And we have now competitors and doesn’t over anymore all relevant content (e.g. Star Trek Picard, Expanse, Disney). How about ruining it and blocking family me…

Users need to accept that Netflix was never going to be profitable that way. We had a taste of that amount of content at that price, but it simply can't be economically done.

Netflix got greedy and decided to make all their own content in-house, but they did a poor job of picking shows, and not making too many at once. They burned tons of money on mediocre-to-bad shows, all in the name of not paying licensing to another company, the result being a higher cost for less desirable content.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#917

Post by nmeofthestate » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 1:46 PM UTC

Tesco loses a million "users" over "checkout avoidance" policing. There's a concern that word of mouth recommendations of Tesco Finest products will take a hit as a result of the measures.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#918

Post by fennecfoxy » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 1:54 PM UTC

Everyone getting angry at Netflix but not the real source of all the problems; the suit&tie media execs who are forcing these companies to shake their hands for exclusive deals, and pocketing fat wads of cash from these contracts.

Even before streaming, this has always been an issue and it ties in with the ludicrous amounts of money paid to movie stars, the cost of which is carried onto us consumers; and yet people blame movie theatres for the ludicrous prices, how fucking shortsighted - do people even think at all?

Why the hell is RDJ making 40M for a Captain America movie? Why is Will Smith being paid 40M for King Richard? Why Did Johnny Depp get a 35M wad for Pirates?

Sure these actors are all skilled professionals, but do we honestly believe those amounts are okay? It's clearly all of our collective, consumer faults at the end of the day; story of human history.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#919

Post by mhb » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 1:59 PM UTC

hedora wrote: post #852

genewitch wrote: post #761

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Verizon, who are well known for being affordable, honest, and "with the times", has announced they're going to bring back "cable" subscriptions - you give verizon a flat rate, and they get you all of the streaming services, presumably for less than you'd pay for them individually. Yes, the first part is obvious facetiousness.

I wish consumer protection laws applied to cell phone providers. I shopped around a while back, and walked into an AT&T, TMobile, and Verizon store. They all had big ass signs in the front window saying $25/month per line (with a bunch of fine print that can't be read from outside the store). Of course, none of them will honor that pricing. Also, none of them actually publish their prices. The best I got was some han…

Consumer Cellular FTW

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#920

Post by NickC25 » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 2:09 PM UTC

fennecfoxy wrote: post #918

Everyone getting angry at Netflix but not the real source of all the problems; the suit&tie media execs who are forcing these companies to shake their hands for exclusive deals, and pocketing fat wads of cash from these contracts. Even before streaming, this has always been an issue and it ties in with the ludicrous amounts of money paid to movie stars, the cost of which is carried onto us consumers; and yet people b…

> do people even think at all?

No, they don't. Man is smart, people are dumb.

That said, actors get paid because they employ good negotiators. RDJ took a huge risk pinning a great deal of his career on the Marvel movies back when it was a very niche movie, much like Sir Alec Guinness did with Star Wars. That said, some of the amounts entertainers make is absurd - top athletes make stupid money too, but at least their prime earning years are significantly shorter than actors or musicians.

Entertainers also make a ton because the people paying them also make a ton, and those people can afford to lobby for IP protection (see: Disney) and utilize "creative" accounting strategies such as Hollywood Accounting and collectively, we don't do anything to combat such blatant fraud, because it keeps the circuses coming, and politicians cannot disrupt the bread, nor the circuses, unless they wish to get voted out.