Variety: Netflix Will Prompt Subscribers to Pay for Users Outside Their Households in New Test to Address Unauthorized Password Sharing

Mindwipe · Mar 17, 2022

SageShinigami said:
The increase in streaming services has already caused an increase in piracy. This assumption ERA has that people will just continue to pay no matter how much a company raises prices or takes away functionalities is wild, frankly.

That's... literally not what the article you linked to says.

It says that there was an increase in piracy at the start of the pandemic because people were sat at home with nothing to do, and there have been increases in piracy for film title that have been made available for early window VOD or day and date SVOD because it was possible to obtain good UHD quality rips.

It doesn't actually say that there was any major increase in piracy for SVOD titles, nor that rates haven't dropped back down again as the number of early window releases drops, and it's notable that the services with strong DRM or those with theatrical exclusivity aren't really suffering any increase at all...

Mindwipe · Mar 17, 2022

Serpens007 said:
#ChaoNetflix is trending in Chile. Calls to boicot and stuff. This won't be well received, specially because there are several alternatives, some of them way cheaper too.

Similar happened when Netflix blocked VPNs, and that quarter was one of their most successful ever in customer gain.

Azriell · Mar 17, 2022

Netflix is already pretty lackluster for me. Originally I had it for myself and my kids, but nobody in my household uses it very often anymore. I keep it mostly because of my parents, but if I can't share for free then I lose my biggest reason for having it and my parents are unlikely to keep the sub on their own.

Personally speaking, Netflix hasn't been great for like...half a decade? I could see myself resubbing to binge new seasons when they drop, but there are only a few Netflix Originals I care about. The original promise of "all these movies and shows I love at my fingertips" was the thing that killed cable for me. However, Netflix hasn't been that for awhile. The library shifts too much and, even though I understand why, it doesn't change the fact that I find it to be a shitty experience when I fire it up.

geomon · Mar 17, 2022

Watch how fast I cancel this shit.

SanderGT · Mar 17, 2022

What if I'm travelling with my tablet? How will it differentiate?

FLUXCapacitor · Mar 17, 2022

SanderGT said:
What if I'm travelling with my tablet? How will it differentiate?

Yeah that's what I don't get. I log into Netflix all the time when I travel at hotels and stuff.

excelsiorlef · Mar 17, 2022

Mindwipe said:
Similar happened when Netflix blocked VPNs, and that quarter was one of their most successful ever in customer gain.

Can't compare account splitting and vpns

Most people's mothers aren't using a vpn.

Disco Infernal · Mar 17, 2022

FLUXCapacitor said:
Yeah that's what I don't get. I log into Netflix all the time when I travel at hotels and stuff.

With Hulu it would just log off the people currently logged in.

mrmoose · Mar 17, 2022

Again though, they know you're on a tablet and that you're not staying in one place for months at a time. Plus I think the most you'll have to do is reauthenticate? I don't really see this flagging a ton of people going on short term vacations. Maybe if you have like two houses you own and go back and forth between, but even then you probably aren't using it at the same time, and if you are... I dunno, pay the four bucks?

riotous · Mar 17, 2022

SanderGT said:
What if I'm travelling with my tablet? How will it differentiate?

You'd probably not be able to setup a tablet on the road that you hadn't used at home already, but otherwise I imagine it would remember you used it at home.

Flabber · Mar 17, 2022

SanderGT said:
What if I'm travelling with my tablet? How will it differentiate?

i think it's a bit smarter than just looking at your current ip address. Your tablet will frequently touch your home wifi so they'll be able to tell it's part of your household. Your parents' smart tv however will be easy to flag as a home type device on a completely different network.

Inspector Detector · Mar 17, 2022

Netflix has slowly become my least used streaming service (quickly and easily usurped by HBO Max) so this is an easy cancellation.

Vish · Mar 17, 2022

Mindwipe said:
That's... literally not what the article you linked to says.

It says that there was an increase in piracy at the start of the pandemic because people were sat at home with nothing to do, and there have been increases in piracy for film title that have been made available for early window VOD or day and date SVOD because it was possible to obtain good UHD quality rips.

It doesn't actually say that there was any major increase in piracy for SVOD titles, nor that rates haven't dropped back down again as the number of early window releases drops, and it's notable that the services with strong DRM or those with theatrical exclusivity aren't really suffering any increase at all...

The temptation to pirate is pretty potent i'd say. How many subscription services do I want to have? How often do I want to be continually swapping for exclusive content? It's not what it used to be, and the bills keep growing.

That's why music is so awesome because even though there are lots of platforms, they are all one-stop-shops. I can easily see illegal streaming programs that consolidate content being pretty awesome.

I wonder what companies will divert from this, Sony (intelligently) bailed :P.

Falchion · Mar 17, 2022

My family has a free family plan through TMobile but we all live different places. This better not fuck up our system!

Tackleberry · Mar 17, 2022

Im about "this" close to cancelling Netflix.

Their content seems to be shrinking, and what is there seems of lower quality... and they KEEP RAISING THE PRICE!!!

It's not worth the $20 a month they are trying to squeeze out of everyone. Especially when you compare with the other options out there.

ElNino · Mar 17, 2022

Futureman said:
They would be crazy to restrict someone like you. I'm guessing they have a system to monitor usage like, "Hey, two different devices are consistently accessing the same account from different geographic spots.... block!"

Someone like you where it's just one device at time using it at a time but in different areas, no block. Maybe I'm wrong.

What about households with more than more place of residence (like a cottage or home in the city for work). During the work week, my spouse and I are often in different cities so there are certainly times where we (and our kids) are all on Netflix using my account from different locations. We are most definitely all "one household" though and I pay $20+ per month for the 4k and multiple streams.

Kyari · Mar 17, 2022

I was already finding myself using Netflix less and less with Disney+ existing, a large part of the reason I hadn't unsubbed was because my mom likes to have access to it "just in case", but this will just force me to drop it.

TarpitCarnivore · Mar 17, 2022

ElNino said:
What about households with more than more place of residence (like a cottage or home in the city for work). During the work week, my spouse and I are often in different cities so there are certainly times where we (and our kids) are all on Netflix using my account from different locations. We are most definitely all "one household" though and I pay $20+ per month for the 4k and multiple streams.

Well, people with two house holds is not a common thing so it's more of an edge case. And as someone mentioned if the devices 'come home' it will probably reset some kind of counter for when they force a re-auth or verification

ElNino · Mar 17, 2022

TarpitCarnivore said:
Well, people with two house holds is not a common thing so it's more of an edge case. And as someone mentioned if the devices 'come home' it will probably reset some kind of counter for when they force a re-auth or verification

Edge case or not, we have four profiles on our account from our household but often (weekly) use them at different locations. I'm okay if I need to authorize since it's my account, but I would hope they don't flag my account for an additional user charge.

Syntsui · Mar 17, 2022

This will go down in history as one of the biggest shot in the foot in the industry. All the competition will capitalize hard on this.

DevilMayGuy · Mar 17, 2022

Lotta people about to dust off their tricorne hats if they go through with this shit

A certain Zimmer theme song plays faintly in the distance

DarthMasta · Mar 17, 2022

I know several people, coworkers, sharing the same account, 4 screens is 4 screens, why does it matter if it's 4 screens in the same family? Is it less expensive for Netflix to provide the content, you see, because the screens are from people in the same family, the data flows easier in the tubes, so it's easier to deliver?

If it goes ahead, it goes ahead, but it certainly makes other content providers look better.

Darknight · Mar 17, 2022

ElNino said:
Edge case or not, we have four profiles on our account from our household but often (weekly) use them at different locations. I'm okay if I need to authorize since it's my account, but I would hope they don't flag my account for an additional user charge.

In all likelihood, it's going to work in a way where a home location will validate a device if you've signed in to that device from home which will avoid the need to verify outside the home and a verification is going to be needed for devices that have not signed in from home. The extra charge will come in to play to bypass that extra step verification. Make no mistake though that whatever Netflix does to curb this, there are going to be edge cases that are impacted, but those edge cases are going to be in such a minority that Netflix probably doesn't care about that as the impact will be insignificant in their eyes caused by losing the edge cases.

DarthMasta said:
I know several people, coworkers, sharing the same account, 4 screens is 4 screens, why does it matter if it's 4 screens in the same family? Is it less expensive for Netflix to provide the content, you see, because the screens are from people in the same family, the data flows easier in the tubes, so it's easier to deliver?

If it goes ahead, it goes ahead, but it certainly makes other content providers look better.

It's costs Netflix less because in all likelihood, a household isn't using all four slots as often as people who share accounts. So the average number of people using the service per account goes up with sharing and in turn Netflix is paying more in server usage, maintenance, etc with all that's involved in maintaining the cost per stream.

Syntsui said:
This will go down in history as one of the biggest shot in the foot in the industry. All the competition will capitalize hard on this.

All the other services want to do the same thing though. Once one makes it standard, everyone else will too.

CerealKi11a · Mar 17, 2022

I don't pay for Netflix because I don't like Netflix enough to pay for it, not because I am a Netflix mooch (which I am, to be clear).

Charcoal · Mar 17, 2022

If Netflix were to go under today, I can't say I'd miss it.

henhowc · Mar 17, 2022

era bubble...with every new Netflix thread it feels like ya'll cancelled lmao

captive · Mar 17, 2022

CupOfDoom said:
Why? Netflix is a multi-billion dollar corporation, what is "good" about them price gouging people so they can increase their yearly revenue from ~30bil to ~33bil

price gouging? seems a bit much.

pay for your content.

Mocha Joe said:
So fucking stupid. Maybe if your sub cost wasn't so damn expensive, people wouldn't be sharing it as much

please people been sharing account passwords since netflix was like 8 dollars. Its been a running joke for years and i still regularly see shit like "i officially broke up with my bf/gf/partner when i changed the password on my netflix"

and its been a thing in literally every "how do i cut the cord thread" EVER. People come in and gleefully pronounce how successful they were "cutting the cord"

Greysif said:
Please huge corporation, charge me more!

The fucking bullshit one has to read on this forum.

imagine thinking you should have access to content for free.

support content creators, seriously. Same shit as people bitching about spotify and joe rogan when they know full well and have seen the numbers that spotify dont pay shit to their musical artists.

Teiresias · Mar 17, 2022

Pretty much the only thing I watch on netflix anymore are Witcher and Stranger Things, and neither of them has new content out soon (well, ST sooner than Witcher), so I'd definitely move to a more "only subscribe when something I watch" is out rather than a "stay subscribed all the time" model. My dad will just have to pay for his own subscription or not watch. Like me though, he has all the other services, so he won't hurt for content so he's likely to just let it go too.

Sheepinator · Mar 17, 2022

Good. It was always against the ToS, and these freeloaders contribute to everyone else paying higher prices.

stupei · Mar 17, 2022

Sheepinator said:
Good. It was always against the ToS, and these freeloaders contribute to everyone else paying higher prices.

As if they're not going to continue to raise prices.

They're doing this because capitalism demands year over year growth to keep stock high and they've already reached most of their saturation point. Instead of actual innovation, just try to squeeze more money from the same service.

Mesoian · Mar 17, 2022

I can't think of anything that would cause a mass cancellation faster, other than raising the cost a full 10 dollars.

Sheepinator said:
Good. It was always against the ToS, and these freeloaders contribute to everyone else paying higher prices.

PFFT, yeah as if doing this will stop them from raising prices year over year.

Fiddle · Mar 17, 2022

stupei said:
As if they're not going to continue to raise prices.

They're doing this because capitalism demands year over year growth to keep stock high and they've already reached most of their saturation point. Instead of actual innovation, just try to squeeze more money from the same service.

Squeeze money from the same service = stop some people not paying for access to paid content

henhowc said:
era bubble...with every new Netflix thread it feels like ya'll cancelled lmao

yeah, netflix isn't gonna be hurt from this move at all. it's the default streaming service and will be for a very long time.

Christor · Mar 17, 2022

Yeah, it's not going to work out very well for them. People are definitely going to cancel in droves.

Strangiato · Mar 17, 2022

And I just found out they cancelled their best ever show Santa Clarita Diet. Why must every great service inevitably kill itself?

stupei · Mar 17, 2022

Fiddle said:
Squeeze money from the same service = stop some people not paying for access to paid content

yeah, netflix isn't gonna be hurt from this move at all. it's the default streaming service and will be for a very long time.

My point is that the way companies should actually grow is through innovation. Coming up with something to improve the formula. Figure out other ways to implement their streaming technology in other mediums. Actual change and growth.

Or they can delude themselves into thinking that people who currently access their content for free and contribute to the zeitgeist "everyone is talking about this" feeling that functions as their primary form of advertising are going to suddenly decide to hand over $20 a month once they're kicked off their current family plan. That's not growth. It's running in a very small circle and it's not sustainable.

They'll kick people off first and then they'll circle back to another price hike a few months later.

RedMercury · Mar 17, 2022

Sheepinator said:
Good. It was always against the ToS, and these freeloaders contribute to everyone else paying higher prices.

Is this sarcasm lol

captive said:
imagine thinking you should have access to content for free.

I think there is a pretty decent chunk of people who would not pay regardless, like Netflix would never see a dime from them in any scenario, for those people I don't know what not being able to access the content will accomplish really. If you were never going to get their money, locking them out of the content is more a symbolic gesture than anything that on one hand could be a bad enough look that it has a negative ripple effect, or it could have a positive effect by signaling to people whose money is on the table that they better keep paying. I don't know which it would be or if they would just cancel each other out.

But more to your point, people are mad because they are already paying for the content, they are paying for a subscription that includes multiple screens, it's even listed on their website as "Number of screens you can watch on at the same time".

Surakian · Mar 18, 2022

Quatermain said:
So what I'm gathering from this thread is that very few people, myself included, actually watch the Netflix they pay for. We're all just staying subbed for our loved ones.

Pretty much, or we are willing to sub with the knowledge it is being used by multiple people including ourselves as to not waste money.

IMO I can't justify spending $20 a month on a service I don't use all of the time just for myself, but knowing that my grandma and mom are getting to use it while I'm at work makes it worth it.

It's easier for some people to spend money on others than it is for themselves.

And I also know that without me, my mom or grandma wouldn't sub to Netflix, so Netflix isn't going to get their money from restricting password sharing.

Sheepinator · Mar 18, 2022

stupei said:
As if they're not going to continue to raise prices.

Mesoian said:
PFFT, yeah as if doing this will stop them from raising prices year over year.

Strawman. Nobody is saying they'd never raise prices. However, it's common sense that a company with lower profit margins is more likely to raise its prices than one with higher profit margins. These freeloaders should have been paying up for years.

TaterTots · Mar 18, 2022

Sheepinator said:
Good. It was always against the ToS, and these freeloaders contribute to everyone else paying higher prices.

Yea, I don't get the uproar about this at all.

Mesoian · Mar 18, 2022

Sheepinator said:
Strawman. Nobody is saying they'd never raise prices. However, it's common sense that a company with lower profit margins is more likely to raise its prices than one with higher profit margins. These freeloaders should have been paying up for years.

Welp, we'll see how this works out for them.

I doubt it will go well.

samoscratch · Mar 18, 2022

Just gonna cancel, mainly due to the price increase though. There just isn't enough content that I enjoy on Netflix on a regular basis. I'm always endlessly scrolling through their catalog hoping to find something decent, unless there's some big new show or something.

Darknight · Mar 18, 2022

Mesoian said:
Welp, we'll see how this works out for them.

I doubt it will go well.

I have to wonder why people don't think that Netflix isn't making an informed decision on this? They already know what percentage of people are sharing, how often people are sharing, where they're sharing from, what the viewing habits are, how many hours they're watching, how often people travel, what devices they're using and so forth. They have a ton of data to analyze to know what the cost impact is from people sharing, and can create a predicted range of a high and low probability of the percentage that will leave or not leave the service based off this change. They have a ton of data to make this decision and I have to think that their analysis is telling them that this isn't going to be the massive fallout that people on this forum are predicting who have none of that data to base that theory on.

Sheepinator · Mar 18, 2022

Darknight said:
I have to wonder why people don't think that Netflix isn't making an informed decision on this? They already know what percentage of people are sharing, how often people are sharing, where they're sharing from, what the viewing habits are, how many hours they're watching, how often people travel, what devices they're using and so forth. They have a ton of data to analyze to know what the cost impact is from people sharing, and can create a predicted range of a high and low probability of the percentage that will leave or not leave the service based off this change. They have a ton of data to make this decision and I have to think that their analysis is telling them that this isn't going to be the massive fallout that people on this forum are predicting who have none of that data to base that theory on.

Agreed.

Mesoian · Mar 18, 2022

Darknight said:
I have to wonder why people don't think that Netflix isn't making an informed decision on this? They already know what percentage of people are sharing, how often people are sharing, where they're sharing from, what the viewing habits are, how many hours they're watching, how often people travel, what devices they're using and so forth. They have a ton of data to analyze to know what the cost impact is from people sharing, and can create a predicted range of a high and low probability of the percentage that will leave or not leave the service based off this change. They have a ton of data to make this decision and I have to think that their analysis is telling them that this isn't going to be the massive fallout that people on this forum are predicting who have none of that data to base that theory on.

We'll see. Honestly, between the annual cost rising, cancelling highly rated shows after 3 seasons despite high viewership and watch time and significant pressure from outside competitors, the last the I'd want to do is piss off existing members any more than they already are.

But hey. They have projections to follow. I'm sure they'll be just fine.

Fiddle · Mar 18, 2022

stupei said:
My point is that the way companies should actually grow is through innovation. Coming up with something to improve the formula. Figure out other ways to implement their streaming technology in other mediums. Actual change and growth.

Or they can delude themselves into thinking that people who currently access their content for free and contribute to the zeitgeist "everyone is talking about this" feeling that functions as their primary form of advertising are going to suddenly decide to hand over $20 a month once they're kicked off their current family plan. That's not growth. It's running in a very small circle and it's not sustainable.

They'll kick people off first and then they'll circle back to another price hike a few months later.

Sorry, but expecting constant innovation in a pretty matured and "simple" market like streaming is unreasonable. And even then, Netflix has been innovating and adding features. There's free games included now (with no in app purchases), interactive films, and the Netflix mobile app is unparrelled in it's calendar features, fast laughs feature, and general really great UI functionality. I don't use a lot of that stuff but clearly a lot of their userbase does, but that doesn't mean they aren't "innovating".

Just because they're trying to stop some people leeching off other subscriptions doesn't mean they're done for. Netflix is a really good service and it's entirely reasonable to stop some people doing this.

Darknight · Mar 18, 2022

Mesoian said:
We'll see. Honestly, between the annual cost rising, cancelling highly rated shows after 3 seasons despite high viewership and watch time and significant pressure from outside competitors, the last the I'd want to do is piss off existing members any more than they already are.

But hey. They have projections to follow. I'm sure they'll be just fine.

Make no mistake, I think Netflix has long term problems that are building up but I think there's a difference of inaction and trying to decide when to make a change to compensate rather than ride the current wave you're on and actually taking action where you've built up a case that justifies making the move. Netflix isn't infallible but I have to think that because they're so data driven, they've taken look at the data they have and have made this decision to act with reasonable confidence that this isn't going to blow up in their face which is why they're acting on it. Their long term problems on the other hand is them trying to kick the can down the road as far as they can before it screws them over and they're hoping that they'll ride it out until they feel that risk is about to catch up to them.

Jokerman · Mar 18, 2022

Cancelled last week after the latest price rise. Crazy to think I was paying £5.99 when I first signed up. If Amazon can keep Prime at the price they are, which includes free delivery, music et al, then Netflix looks like increasingly poor value for money.

RisingStar · Mar 18, 2022

Why not just have a family plan to share beyond household? Granted, Spotify doesn't allow it either.

Nateo · Mar 18, 2022

Sheepinator said:
Good. It was always against the ToS, and these freeloaders contribute to everyone else paying higher prices.

Yes because this will decrease prices for you now wont it? Thats some bootlicking mentality you got there.

BobLoblaw · Mar 18, 2022

Joke's on them. I already cancelled.

Variety: Netflix Will Prompt Subscribers to Pay for Users Outside Their Households in New Test to Address Unauthorized Password Sharing

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