Netflix pulls the rope but until when? By preventing account sharing and increasing its prices, the streaming leader takes the risk of losing customers who will have two choices: hack and/or go to the competition.
The streaming leader has launched a campaign to prevent users from sharing a Netflix account. More and more users are getting an alert that they need to verify their identity via email or phone number to continue using the account. Many of us share an account with friends, neighbors or simply family. It seems that this system has its days numbered.
Netflix is pulling the rope, but until when?
You must pay at least 8.99 euros per month for a classic Netflix streaming account. If you want Ultra HD definition (essentially 4K) and four simultaneous viewers, it will cost you 17.99 euros per month. And yet Netflix has decided to increase its prices in the United States, “nWe are updating our prices so that we can continue to offer a wide variety of quality entertainment options. As always, we offer a range of offers so members can choose a price that suits their budget. justified Netflix. In France, prices had already increased last summer, ten months after an increase (already) in North America. There is therefore a chance that the current price increase in the United States and Canada will be reflected in France in the months to come.
Or, you can do what about 37% of Netflix users do and share your username and password with family and friends. The first thing Netflix did was launch a new tool that, when it detects that multiple users share an account and don’t live in the same house, sends them a message inviting them to have their own Netflix account. To do this, they ask for a verification code if they want to continue enjoying the service which is sent by email or SMS to the account owner.
Additionally, Netflix has removed the free trials it previously offered, so the only option if the platform won’t allow you to use its service is to pay. Or pirate their content. And therein lies Netflix’s big mistake.
In recent years, Netflix and other streaming platforms seem to have won the war against piracy. Popcorn Time, for example, is gone. It is an obvious fact, like music with Spotify, if a comfortable and quality service is offered, people would rather pay than pirate. But of course, all at a fair price.
Lose billions of dollars or users? Netflix’s dilemma
Netflix’s excuse for limiting account sharing is that they are losing billions of dollars in revenue. According to them, this money should have been used to improve the production of new exclusive content with which they intend to attract more users. It seems logical, big productions have a very high price. For example, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series will cost around $390 million for its first season alone. That’s four times more than Game of Thrones.
In addition, Netflix is under pressure from Disney+, which has announced that it will invest $16 billion in 2022 to offer new content on its platform. As for Netflix, its investment in 2021 would be around $19 billion.
The limit of this model
For now, Netflix remains the leader with 200 million customers worldwide, but also several big rivals. We are talking about Disney+, which has already exceeded 100 million users even though the service was only launched two years ago. And on the other hand, we have HBO Max or even Amazon Prime Video, which already have tens of millions of users.
Offer | Video quality | Number of screens | monthly price |
---|---|---|---|
Amazon Prime Video | Ultra-HD (4K) | 3 | €5.99 or €49/year |
Amazon Prime Video -24 years old | Ultra-HD (4K) | 3 | 24 €/year |
AppleTV+ | Ultra HD (4K) + HDR | 6 | €4.99 |
Canal+ Cinema Series+ | Ultra-HD (4K) | 1 to 2 | €49.90 |
Canal+ Series | Ultra-HD (4K) | 1 2 4 | €6.99 €9.99 €11.99 |
Disney+ | 4K | 4 | €6.99 (or €69.99/year) |
netflix essential | SD (standard definition) | 1 | €8.99 |
Standard Netflix | HD | 2 | €13.49 |
Netflix-premium | Ultra HD (4K) + HDR | 4 | €17.99 |
SCO | Full HD (4K on Orange box) | 2 | €9.99 or €11.99 (TV option) |
It is clear that Netflix is the most expensive service. Although Netflix is clearly the leader with content that keeps changing every month, the company is reaching the limits of its system by preventing account sharing and increasing its prices. Most likely, we will end up leaving the platform, with the choice of opting for illegal downloads or taking a step towards a cheaper alternative. Or maybe both…
Especially since sharing your password is far from being piracy. Piracy, even as a colloquial language, has always referred to the making of illegal copies of a medium. Download songs from Napster, use Torrent to watch movies. But with streaming, no copying is done. You play a movie from Netflix’s servers and it’s never stored in its entirety on your device. Sharing your password gives someone else access to this feature — access they would have had to pay for if you hadn’t shared it with them — but it doesn’t allow copying. And therefore, there can be no copyright infringement. This puts Netflix in a murky area, legally speaking.
The only legal avenue they can turn to is in their terms of service. Buried in the huge legal document that we all tend to gloss over are terms stating that a user agrees not to share their password with anyone.
Turning a blind eye to account sharing is positive
In addition, sharing your account is a positive thing for Netflix. A teenager who grows up borrowing their parents’ password is more likely to have their own subscription one day. The broke student who borrows his friends’ password can get his own subscription once he’s out of college and has a job. But that won’t happen if they don’t become addicted to service in the first place. From this perspective, turning a blind eye to password sharing is the streaming equivalent of handing out free samples at a Carrefour. In fact, Netflix is doing the opposite.
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