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Ever since Netflix started streaming movies and their game-changing recommendations of original content became incredibly popular amongst cinephiles, the streaming giant has become a cultural phenomenon.
After working throughout the week, my favourite thing to do on a weekend is to binge-watch the docuseries on Netflix or watch Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, one of my favourite Indian movies of all time, for the 456th time.
Sometimes I do take my sister’s account, who is living in a different city, so I don’t pay a single penny to her. I mean, who doesn’t like freebies?
Unfortunately, this is going to end soon. Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown has arrived in the US, and soon it will be enforced in other countries.
Ironically, Netflix had tweeted this in 2017👇.
Love is sharing a password.
— Netflix (@netflix) March 10, 2017
The streaming giant learned that love doesn’t pay the bills, especially since more than 100 million homes accessed Netflix through password sharing, which is about 43% of its global user base.
Despite the criticism, Netflix believes this move would help its long-term growth and financial health. Instead of focusing just on expansion, Netflix is now pursuing profitability.
“Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with — your household,” the company said in an email, which it posted to its blog on May 23, 2023.
The email continues, saying that members can transfer the profile of someone outside their household so that the person can start a new membership on their own. Alternatively, they can pay an additional $7.99 per month for every person outside their family who uses their account.
In addition to cracking down on password sharing, Netflix recently unveiled a lower-cost, ad-supported tier in an effort to increase revenue. This would definitely work in developing countries, where the company has been trying for years to increase its subscribers.
Both steps were announced shortly after Netflix revealed its first subscriber decrease in over a decade in early 2022.
I mean, they are indirectly saying that they need to keep their investors happy as well. It’s a publicly traded company, after all.
If there had been no competition, Netflix would have been happy with the growth. But now, there are dozens of streaming platforms around the world, and Netflix is at war with every one of them.
I am just wondering how many people would cancel Netflix and then come back again eventually when the final season of Stranger Things or the next season of The Witcher comes out.
