Streaming giant Netflix is moving more and more vigorously to implement new solutions to curb the practice of sharing access to its platfrom.
The company’s management is facing a considerable challenge – the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal reports that adopting a new strategy that will affect the number of users of the service may be far more difficult than expected.
Social media is a tough nut for Netflix to crack – recent estimates suggest that around 100 million viewers worldwide share their access to the service, with up to 30 million users residing only in the US and Canada.
Implementing decisive changes to this practice in 2023 could bring the company as much as $721 million in revenue.
Analysts warn, though – platform bosses may overestimate customers’ willingness to pay extra for the service, and implementing a cheaper form of subscription with ads may not be met with as much enthusiasm as anticipated.
During tests in South America, especially in Venezuela, where password sharing is rampant, audiences were encouraged to switch to their own subscription plan or pay extra for sharing, a move that was met with considerable criticism.
Now, Netflix might be making its viewers’ viewing experience a bit more unpleasant. Rather than blocking access to the account for those sharing the password, the users received notifications asking them to enter a verification code, that was sent to the phone number of the person paying for the service – the user’s responsibility to add the code within 15 minutes.
The correct passing of the procedure was not equivalent to peaceful use of the platform, because until the main bill payer paid an additional fee for sharing, a message urging to enter the code appeared regularly.
As reporters point out, a streaming giant may introduce a similar strategy in the US as early as the very beginning of 2023, and will watch to see if people decide to pay extra.
We don’t only use Netflix in our own homes – the platform also works on mobile devices, finally – and that makes defining “one household” increasingly difficult. As we travel, we work in various parts of the world, and our children also watch movies or SVOD series with friends.
Those familiar with the matter report that Netflix doesn’t want to be associated with cable, so it’s holding back a bit on assigning a particular subscription to a particular location.
However, should it want to gain even more from splitting accounts, corporate executives will have to take a strong side – and this could result in a loss of subscribers that no one at the company wants.
