Netflix introduces password sharing household controls

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meow
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#3035378 12-Feb-2023 14:48

I can honestly say that I use my account legitimately. I have my account signed into my parents Google TV stick where I stay often and just use it at home + in the car. I otherwise don't account share and have even kicked other family members off my account long ago and yet I feel punished for wanting to use my subscription outside of my own house or even on my guest network.

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Nate001

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#3035381 12-Feb-2023 14:57

Whoever at Netflix orchestrated this crackdown must be wondering why subscriber numbers are down. There’s no way you can tell me they’ve gained subscribers and revenue when legitimate subscribers are being pushed away. People who were freeloading on family members accounts are not suddenly going to subscribe if they’re locked out.

How long before they do a U turn?

networkn

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#3035403 12-Feb-2023 15:56

Nate001: Whoever at Netflix orchestrated this crackdown must be wondering why subscriber numbers are down. There’s no way you can tell me they’ve gained subscribers and revenue when legitimate subscribers are being pushed away. People who were freeloading on family members accounts are not suddenly going to subscribe if they’re locked out.

How long before they do a U turn?

If you don't think they have planned for and predicted a reasonable loss of subscribers in the at least short term, then I am not sure what to tell you.

I predict a reasonable short term loss, followed by an uptick again whilst people 'adjust' to the new paradigm.

They won't be too unhappy I imagine if at worst their profits and revenues were relatively flat but the number of customers dropped somewhat, as this means higher profit per customer.

I'll be very surprised if they U-Turn on this. They may pare back how aggressively they treat customers though.

networkn

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#3035458 12-Feb-2023 16:38

michaelmurfy:

I can honestly say that I use my account legitimately. I have my account signed into my parents Google TV stick where I stay often and just use it at home + in the car. I otherwise don't account share and have even kicked other family members off my account long ago and yet I feel punished for wanting to use my subscription outside of my own house or even on my guest network.

Yeah, I feel for you in that situation. I understand Netflix doing what they have done as a policy, but if I was them, I'd have taken a much more softly approach to it's enforcement and seen what the impact from it was, rather than potentially "hard alienate" people in the current climate where people are just looking for a cause to jump onto. It's easier to tighten gradually and assess damage than loosen and find you've permanently lost clients due to a heavy-handed approach.

I'll be surprised if they don't pare this back a bit once they have assessed what the current impact is.

antoniosk

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#3035459 12-Feb-2023 16:44

Nate001: Whoever at Netflix orchestrated this crackdown must be wondering why subscriber numbers are down. There’s no way you can tell me they’ve gained subscribers and revenue when legitimate subscribers are being pushed away. People who were freeloading on family members accounts are not suddenly going to subscribe if they’re locked out.

How long before they do a U turn?

Complete reversal unlikely as they have committed to the markets to stem losses and this is a key part of how. To completely withdraw will be utterly punishing and will result in the entire exec suite getting quickly uncomfortable.

They are testing in the non-core markets (ie not USA or UK) to gauge reaction. The apparent lack of preparation for ISP realities is eye-opening, especially as places like Australia and NZ have quite advanced Internet access paths, but there you go.

I'm disappointed they havent embraced the concept of people wanting to pay for family access like I do with Spotify and Apple, instead binding the payment profile to the premises (how very Sky 1997), but there you go.

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mattwnz

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#3035472 12-Feb-2023 17:07

IMO it is trying to dictate how people live and trying to profit if they live in two locations , with a TV in each, or make the service too cumbersome to use. I think they will learn that this was a bad move. If paying for an online service, you should never be restricted to using it in one location. At least with lightboxes system, they used to allow 5 devices to be registered per account. I will probably end up getting rid of it but get it included with Sparks plan ATM

Nate001

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#3035488 12-Feb-2023 17:37

networkn:
Nate001: Whoever at Netflix orchestrated this crackdown must be wondering why subscriber numbers are down. There’s no way you can tell me they’ve gained subscribers and revenue when legitimate subscribers are being pushed away. People who were freeloading on family members accounts are not suddenly going to subscribe if they’re locked out.

How long before they do a U turn?

If you don't think they have planned for and predicted a reasonable loss of subscribers in the at least short term, then I am not sure what to tell you.

I predict a reasonable short term loss, followed by an uptick again whilst people 'adjust' to the new paradigm.

They won't be too unhappy I imagine if at worst their profits and revenues were relatively flat but the number of customers dropped somewhat, as this means higher profit per customer.

I'll be very surprised if they U-Turn on this. They may pare back how aggressively they treat customers though.

Yes but in a world where the share market only cares about subscriber numbers and revenue, how does this help? IMO subscriber numbers have peaked for Netflix.

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Paul1977

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#3035583 12-Feb-2023 19:01

How would profit per customer increase? Economies of scale typically mean the more customers you have the less it costs you per customer. If total number of customers falls, if anything, profit per customer would also fall.

Regardless, surely it’s total profit that matters.

tdgeek

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#3035584 12-Feb-2023 19:02

Nate001:
Yes but in a world where the share market only cares about subscriber numbers and revenue, how does this help? IMO subscriber numbers have peaked for Netflix.

Whether its Netflix or Countdown or Noel Leemings, the same rules apply. Its competition, not the previous monopoly... The market will sort it out

tdgeek

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#3035602 12-Feb-2023 19:09

Paul1977: How would profit per customer increase? Economies of scale typically mean the more customers you have the less it costs you per customer. If total number of customers falls, if anything, profit per customer would also fall.

Regardless, surely it’s total profit that matters.

Yep. Profit per customer. Say I pay which I do and i have 3 freeloaders. They will drop off, no revenue change. maybe 1/they will pay the $7-99, revenue increase.

Maybe I might cancel but why would I? It doesnt affect me, just the freeloaders.

The issue I feel is perception. Netflix may have encouraged this? Did they say, no worries, give to the boyfriends mate's cousin? Im nt sure thats correct. If they had a loose system thats fine, use it. Now its not loose, so as I do at the dairy, BP, Noel Lemmings, I pay for my product or service. They changed the rules? If so, choose to stay or choose to go, thats market competition.

As per the bold, if you dont make a profit, you disappear.

Scott3

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#3035615 12-Feb-2023 19:55

Nate001: Whoever at Netflix orchestrated this crackdown must be wondering why subscriber numbers are down. There’s no way you can tell me they’ve gained subscribers and revenue when legitimate subscribers are being pushed away. People who were freeloading on family members accounts are not suddenly going to subscribe if they’re locked out.

How long before they do a U turn?

"People who were freeloading on family members accounts are not suddenly going to subscribe if they’re locked out."

Netflix must thing a resolvable number of them will. (either by purchasing their own account or by the additional household add on option via the existing account). Sure some people will be bitter about being locked out, but other frequent uses will see the great value in netflix and pay up.

Where I think netflix have gone wrong is reminding people they actually have a subscription. Very easy to have an automatically recurring subscription that you are aware you signed up for, and still use, but not enough to justify the money any more. Such people will be reminded of this by the media attention, and perhaps the prompts to set their primary household. Number of people that subsequently cancel for this reason could exceed the number of sign up's when sharing is banned.

Also customer stickiness is something to consider. i.e. the parent with uni aged kid(s) that are flatting etc. Might not use netflix enough to justify it, but stays signed up as their kid(s) share their account. Nix sharing, and there is no reason for the parent to be sticky, and the uni aged kid will probably just get their content elsewhere (perhaps from a site with a sailing ship logo).

One thing to note is it very much does cost money for netflix to serve up content per stream, so they will save a little expense via this policy.

In terms of a U turn, I don't know how easy that will be. Most of the damage will already be done by now.

Also we are a test market. Netflix want to see what actually goes down here, before the roll the policy out on their very important home market.

Scott3

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#3035617 12-Feb-2023 19:57

tdgeek:

Paul1977: How would profit per customer increase? Economies of scale typically mean the more customers you have the less it costs you per customer. If total number of customers falls, if anything, profit per customer would also fall.

Regardless, surely it’s total profit that matters.

Yep. Profit per customer. Say I pay which I do and i have 3 freeloaders. They will drop off, no revenue change. maybe 1/they will pay the $7-99, revenue increase.

Maybe I might cancel but why would I? It doesnt affect me, just the freeloaders.

The issue I feel is perception. Netflix may have encouraged this? Did they say, no worries, give to the boyfriends mate's cousin? Im nt sure thats correct. If they had a loose system thats fine, use it. Now its not loose, so as I do at the dairy, BP, Noel Lemmings, I pay for my product or service. They changed the rules? If so, choose to stay or choose to go, thats market competition.

As per the bold, if you dont make a profit, you disappear.

"Did they say, no worries, give to the boyfriends mate's cousin?"

Well they did suggest sharing with those you love:

tdgeek

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#3035618 12-Feb-2023 19:58

Is there a difference between buying a hairdryer or buying Netflix? I dont feel so, for what I consider obvious reasons.

tdgeek

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#3035619 12-Feb-2023 20:04

Scott3:

"Did they say, no worries, give to the boyfriends mate's cousin?"

Well they did suggest sharing with those you love:

Fair enough. Now the rules have changed. The new rules have been advised, if you see value, stay onboard, if not you can unsubscribe. Or you or they can pay $7-99 for a huge library, a very good discount. Much of which has been created, which is not cheap. Netflix Originals, Amazon Originals, Apple Originals. Not cheap.

All businesses do this via rule changes or restrictions or increased prices

tdgeek

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#3035620 12-Feb-2023 20:06

Its like an IT based product, which is 0's and 1's, is different from a hairdryer that you can touch. It isnt.

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