Netflix cracks down on password sharing
I can’t imagine that this decision will gain Netflix a lot of friends:
Netflix’s (NFLX) controversial password sharing crackdown just hit the US.
On Tuesday, the company released a blog post with the news. In addition to the US, Netflix confirmed it will also be rolling out the crackdown across all regions around the world such as the UK, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Singapore, Australia, among others.
“Netflix account is for use by one household,” the company wrote in the post. “Everyone living in that household can use Netflix wherever they are — at home, on the go, on holiday — and take advantage of new features like Transfer Profile and Manage Access and Devices.”
You can also pay $7.99 and up to add on someone not in your household.
Believe me, Netflix has crunched the numbers and decided this will be to their financial advantage. They don’t take any steps without said crunching. I said it wouldn’t gain them a lot of friends. But they’re betting it will gain them a lot of customers.
They probably crunched the numbers, but I don’t think they accounted for the ill will in their assumptions. Other streaming services have ways you can share your account without additional cost, so I believe this is going to cost them. They have done stupid things in the past, and I believe this is just a continuation of that stupidity.
I have never ever seen a netflix movie or show, nor do I plan to. Anything Obama has something to do with, is a no go for me.
Yeah, I know it’s kind of a thing in right-of-center circles to say you don’t watch the offerings on Netflix or Prime Video or whatever, but I DO access those streaming services because I spend all day writing, i.e. all day in my head, and at the end of the day I just want to kick back and be entertained and not think too much. I just wish they had better movies. Most of them are fairly awful.
I think their policy is perfectly rational and fair. If you want to watch Netflix, you should pay for Netflix.
FYI the first season of “Designated Survivor” is very good. In the first episode, terrorists blow up the Capitol during the State of the Union address. What’s not to like?
Erronius
Actually, Netflix is very very much about the bottom line, or at least, was until they got lots of woke idiots in charge of program development.
As a software person, I can tell you that they did constant development of their software, and pushed updates to it anytime the dev team thought it was ready, a process called “Continuous Integration”.
They also had processes that monitored their bottom line, and if it dropped by more than a certain percentage, they would automatically roll back any update they’d done to see what the issue was.
This development in general should not surprise anyone, as they’ve been talking about doing it for several years now. The issue is partly that they’ve lost some of their subscriber growth of late (possibly, but not necessarily, due to political expressions) and this is one of the solutions proposed.
For what it’s worth: I used to watch Netflix and Prime almost equally but for a couple of years now it’s been far more Prime. It’s mainly because with the splintering of the streaming market Netflix just doesn’t have as much to offer as it used to. So I wonder if this is a case of raising prices because you have fewer customers. If so it’s probably not going to help.
It doesn’t matter if the change is “perfectly rational and fair.” What matters is that now they are offering less with what is ostensibly the same service. Yes, Netflix has been talking about putting a stop to password sharing for years; the corollary is that for years Netflix tacitly permitted password sharing. It never feels good when your counterparty unilaterally changes the deal to be more in their favor.
In my household we regularly consume Netflix content. We also have other services (HBO, Paramount+, Apple) that we use. If there is nothing current on a service that we want to watch we cancel, and then restart later if something new arrives that we are interested in. The service providers are wise to this approach and so have started to release shows weekly rather than all at once, which means it takes multiple months to watch an entire season.
Some will not like this policy change but that doesn’t change the fact that account sharing is theft. I, too, am sure Netflix has done the analysis that shows this policy change is a net positive for their service and business.
They are getting ready to loose a bunch of income from me even if they keep me. I currently receive DVDs since I choose not to get a bunch of streaming services and many things are not available via Netflix streams. They are ending that service. During the lockdowns I expanded the number of simultaneous streams I can watch. If my children that are not currently in my house and even my mother can’t watch now I will cut back to the minimum simultaneous streams or quit out right. I don’t know that my extra viewers will buy their own accounts. They may very well not.
I received the email from the flix today. I am leaning toward canceling my subscription. It brought to mind all the subscriptions I am now paying for and, lately, I can’t say that I am getting much use from it. Apples steaming service probably will be next. Taking them forever to launch the next season of Foundation.