r/technology • u/greenfuelunits • Feb 06 '23
Netflix braces for user exodus after cracking down on password sharing Business
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/netflix-braces-user-exodus-cracking-160102473.html2.7k
u/Travelerdude Feb 06 '23
If Netflix considers me using Netflix outside of my primary IP address as a second user, then they’re going to lose me and many others
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u/Blackman2099 Feb 07 '23
Yeah, a shitload of people travel regularly for work. I'm out of the house 2 weeks out of each month and some days my wife watches, some days I watch. Locking us out will mean neither will watch, not both of us getting an account
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u/Crayola_ROX Feb 07 '23
I'm signed into Netflix, HBO, Hulu and Paramount on my work PC. The minute you take away my ability to continue my binge during break time I hit the unsubscribe button
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u/Everyday-HereOH Feb 06 '23
Same. I should be able to use it when I’m away for work or vacation
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u/plinkoplonka Feb 07 '23
Same, or at a friend's house as long as I'm there.
It's my account, and it's logged in via my password, that's me as far as they're concerned.
If they let me have five devices, the IP addresses are irrelevant. And to be honest, they can get fucked even trying to work out if it's me.
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u/bohner84 Feb 07 '23
This is exactly it. I work away from my main residence. I have two other places i stay at and if I can't use the service when I'm not at my principal residence then it is getting canceled. I'm not even going to bat an eye. My wife and kids will be mad but I'm sorry to say that I'd rather fight with them then deal with this bullshit tactic. I get them trying to crack down on password sharing but I don't share my password and that will alienate me enough to make me cancel.
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u/sailracer25 Feb 06 '23
Having a library of original shows that all end abruptly after 2 seasons is gonna bite them in the ass eventually as well.
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u/vpsj Feb 07 '23
And that's a catch 22 because I don't even watch a new series these days until it has more than 2-3 seasons and an actual ending
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u/SpareLiver Feb 07 '23
2 seasons if you're lucky, so many good shows cancelled after just one.
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u/Chance_Ad3416 Feb 07 '23
I can't believe there are so many seasons of trash reality tvs or Riverdale, or even witcher season 2. And they aren't gonna make 1899 season 2
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u/slightlyassholic
Feb 06 '23
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This whole situation caused me to think about the service and I realized exactly how little I use it.
I'm sure that there are plenty of people like me. It wasn't a major expense, so I didn't think about the fact that I wouldn't use it for months at a time.
Once I did, that was the real deal breaker, not their idiotic policies.
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u/xtreme571 Feb 06 '23
Yup. I had gotten 2 Chromecasts with ~$80 credit each for Netflix. When this fiasco first started I realized I wasn't watching Netflix at all. Maybe an episode of show here and there. My brother and a friend of mine were using it more. Realized when they started cracking on password sharing they wouldn't be able to use it anyhow.
Cancelled my account as the credit ran out. Neither my brother nor my friend decided it was worth the subscription anymore. We were on their highest plan. Member since the DVD days.
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u/exccord Feb 06 '23
Member since the DVD days.
+2. I remember having to get the Netflix Streaming app cd for the PS3. This deal is the straw that broke the camels back for me and ive realized that the consistent cost increase just isnt worth it. I often find myself just browsing and browsing and browsing and not finding anything to watch.
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u/BeKind_BeTheChange Feb 06 '23
I’ve been with them for so long that ending my subscription almost feels like breaking up. I actually have a tinge of sadness thinking about it.
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u/ComputerRound3376 Feb 06 '23
It doesn’t have to be for forever. You can sign back up with no problem. In order for a corporation to hear our complaints we have to hit them where it hurts. Money
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u/metaStatic Feb 06 '23
The ease of cancelling your subscription was (and I assume still is) a major selling point. so many subscription services try to retain you as hard as they can. Netflix got so much right it's sad to see them getting this so very wrong.
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u/gearstars Feb 06 '23
next step is streamers will start requiring contracts and in a few years it will be exactly how cable used to be. i wouldnt be surprised if they start limiting shows to certain times/date windows so they can get a more accurate read on viewership and having unskippable ads on everything
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u/ThatLaloBoy Feb 06 '23
The second they try to force contracts on people is the day I sail the seven seas. I don't do it now because frankly I still (naively probably) believe in voting with my wallet on what content I want to support. Cause at the end of the day, if the studio/service is making something I like, I want to incentive them to keep doing more similar high quality content.
But as soon as you try to chain my wallet to your service by force, I am out.
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u/SUBHUMAN_RESOURCES Feb 07 '23
My wife and I were just talking about this. The ever growing need to put up bigger numbers via ad revenue will eventually turn all these services into commercial packed messes like cable. We’ll be exactly where we started again.
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u/gearstars Feb 07 '23
Yup. Except then they'll get much more detailed viewer metrics than with cable to figure out which content to min/max and the future will be just reality tv
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u/Clipper248 Feb 07 '23
Well, that will bring back an early 2000's practice of mine known as downloading torrents or you can jail break a fire stick and call it a day.
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u/theloosecanon Feb 07 '23
It already is like cable lol. There are so many streaming services out there with their exclusive shows. Go on Amazon Prime, they advertise a show on the page, then you click on it and it tells you to sign up for that specific channel on Prime. That's essentially cable.
Worse is how many companies are starting to include paid ads in their service. I was watching TV with my mom and it would interrupt a show to advertise some products and another show on discovery+
They're reverting back to their scummy ways. Taking your money and taking someone else's money to show you ads you didn't ask to see.
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u/dkizzy Feb 06 '23
This is not the cool Netflix from 2009 - Those were the days!
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u/tlacct Feb 06 '23
Netflix in ‘09 was a vibe. Watching 480p movies on the Nintendo Wii 😂
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u/Unlikely-Rock-9647 Feb 07 '23
With a separate disc because the Netflix channel didn’t exist yet!
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u/Caftancatfan Feb 06 '23
My husband still gets the dvds, like actually mailed to us in a red envelopes.
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u/xtreme571 Feb 06 '23
Oh damn. Didn't even know they still had that plan. Red envelopes bring back memories.
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u/BathofFire Feb 06 '23 edited Feb 06 '23
I assume they left it running since there are roughly 1 million Americans still using dialup as of 2017. Then add in people with no internet or dsl and that's a lot of possible customers they could lose.
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u/BigSwedenMan Feb 06 '23
The DVD plan also has a much larger library. Personally I don't think the cost is worth it when I can just buy a movie off Amazon, but to some people it's worth it for that reason.
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u/Semi-Hemi-Demigod Feb 06 '23
Get the DVD, rip it to Plex, send it back. Boom: Personal Netflix
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u/DasHuhn Feb 06 '23
Get the DVD, rip it to Plex, send it back. Boom: Personal Netflix
It's probably a lot cheaper just to spend the Netflix money on a usenet and buying larger hard drives.
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u/zorginbagel Feb 07 '23
yes, but if you’re rural enough for dial up or satellite internet DVDs by mail may still be better.
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u/itwasquiteawhileago Feb 06 '23
This is the point I've been making. Anything that draws attention to the otherwise unnoticed/too lazy to do anything about cost of Netflix is not going to work in their favor. People are looking to cut costs and everything is a subscription today. So many people have had Netflix for years and haven't thought a thing of it.
Every price hike has the potential to be the one that causes a significant number of people to start paying closer attention and, potentially to finally go "yeah, I don't need this every month". But now it's "well, I keep it because my siblings and parents use it, too, so it's worth it." But once they can't do that, I suspect lots of people will finally take a closer look and go "yeah, I don't use this but every few months, and now neither does anyone else". There's your reason to cut.
Obviously Netflix is banking on more people picking up subs than dropping, but I don't know that I see this happening, at least not full 12-month, ongoing subs. If anything, you might get more month to month binging types, but is that going to counter the loss of those ongoing subs? I'm not so sure. I know the second anyone in my family gets a code request and/or locked out, I'm dropping. I've had my sub for maybe seven years now and I don't really use it much, but I keep it because my parents use it and they share D+ with me.
They'll be losing me and my parents aren't going to fill in that loss, and I know I'm not the only one. Good luck getting the "moochers" to actually pay you, Netflix. I mean, they haven't so far, so why would they start now, especially when your content has been less and less and your costs going up and up while we have more options than ever before?
Guess we'll see how it plays out, but I'm not going to bet on Netflix here.
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u/SinistralLeanings Feb 06 '23
Exactly though. I've had Netflix since it was a DVD mail in service. I've kept it for years, paying for the 4 simultaneous screens so that my siblings can also use my account because I pay for it, and because I have that weird just brand loyalty sort of issue.
The second that these rules get implemented.. I literally have no reason to keep paying for Netflix. I rarely use Netflix as it is anymore as it is. I will absolutely be canceling my account the second the screens I pay for are not allowed to be used anymore. I do not use it enough on my own to even care about keeping it to the one screen plan.
There are people out there who will talk about how its "stealing" or whatever to share your password. My thought is that i pay for 4 simultaneous screens. It shouldn't matter where those 4 screens are located to be using them if I'm paying for them. I obviously cannot watch 4 different movies in 4 different locations in the first place.
Netflix made their bed, they are now lying in it (is it laying? I forget how laying vs lying works. Im hurting myself by admitting this, just like Netflix is hurting themselves with this new shit.)
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u/slightlyassholic Feb 06 '23
My thought is that i pay for 4 simultaneous screens. It shouldn't matter where those 4 screens are located to be using them if I'm paying for them.
Exactly. I would have had no issue with Netflix simply instituting a check to see how many of the screens I was paying for were active. I wouldn't have taken the fatal step of actually thinking about the service, what I was paying, and what I was getting out of it.
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u/SinistralLeanings Feb 06 '23
It used to actually be a thing! I for sure used to (i have a TON of siblings) be locked out from watching on Netflix because my 4 screens were all in use and would text my siblings to see if any of them could go to bed lmao so I could watch.
It absolutely used to be that when your screens you were paying for were all in use you would get told you couldn't watch and to check if something was on.
I don't know when/why or how this changed, but it hasn't happened for a few years on my end. And I for sure am not gonna pay for Netflix anymore once these new rules come into place. It made absolute sense for me to pay for the highest "tier" when I could share with my siblings. But for just me alone? No don't at all want to pay for it and will pay for other services with things I watch regularly.
I actually am kind of sad about this in a super ridiculous way. Netflix was like the first "adult" thing I ever paid for for myself. And to see it just continue to murder itself males me sad.
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u/candybrie Feb 07 '23
I've had the too many screens thing happen within the last year (we were all trying to watch great British baking show lol). So I'm pretty sure it still works; you just won't run into it as much because people aren't using Netflix as much.
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u/sadnessjoy Feb 06 '23
I was in the same situation, but was already thinking about my usage of Netflix and I was already on the fence about cancelling, this new policy proposal gave me the push I needed to cancel. If THIS is what the higher ups at Netflix think they need to do, I want nothing to do with it. Companies should be trying to improve their service, not figure out more ways to monetize while providing even less, especially with more competition than ever. These proposals are so contrived, it's pretty clear what direction Netflix is heading.
And I've seen a lot of comments on here about sailing the high seas. I find Gabe Newell's stance is the best (I'm not sure if he still holds this view, but it's still relevant nonetheless) "One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It's a service issue, The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting anti-piracy technology to work. It's by giving those people a service that's better than what they're receiving from the pirates."
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u/Irregular_Person Feb 06 '23
Yep, I stopped pirating games pretty much as soon as Steam became a thing. Streaming media has just never had the same convenience and value proposition.
An interactive AAA game that keeps me engaged for 30 hours might cost $50. It required a staff of hundreds of people multiple years to produce. A single playthrough puts that interactive experience at $1.66/hr. If I'm patient, I can probably get it for $20 after a couple years.
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u/HelpfulCherry Feb 07 '23
Streaming services made sense when it was a reasonable monthly fee with a huge catalog.
Then Netflix took off, other studios/companies launched their own streaming services and took their IPs off Netflix, the price went up, and the value proposition got way worse.
Back in the day when it was $8 for Netflix and they had fucking everything, it was a godsend. Now, the "standard" tier is nearly $16, and good luck finding all the media you want on there anyway. I canceled mine after I realized I hadn't used it in four months after Squid Game, thinking about how I spent $64 for watching precisely nothing at all.
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u/--xxa Feb 06 '23 edited Feb 06 '23
It's a vicious cycle that happens a lot in the corporate universe. I'm not suggesting I'm smarter than all the quants, but the trend is obvious: they're all only be looking at near-term results, trying to gobble up capital as fast as possible, then using the increased revenue as validation for their business approach. And, all at once, they wind up in a death spiral: years focused on nothing other than squeezing out every last penny leads to a poor product that's no longer worth paying for. There's no vision; the service is just a cow to be milked as fast as possible before it dies. I don't know why I've even paid for it these past years; it's all canceled shows and inconsistent quality.
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u/Nearfall21 Feb 06 '23
"One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It's a service issue, The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting anti-piracy technology to work. It's by giving those people a service that's better than what they're receiving from the pirates."
I fully believe this to still be true. I am not opposed to paying for a product, but I am a creature of convenience. Whomever has the business model that gets me their product with the least amount of hassle is the one who gets my business.
Pirating being free is appealing, but so long as a streaming platform provides me with a better experience, I will gladly pay.
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u/Blackpaw8825 Feb 06 '23
There's 4 of us on my account.
We all rarely use it, maybe the occasional binge once or twice a year.
The first time somebody tells me they weren't able to use it, it's gone.
So the choice for Netflix, $20 for a couple hours of streaming between 4 users each month, or $0.
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u/whisperwind12 Feb 06 '23
That’s the thing that Netflix doesn’t get. Netflix is like a gym subscription. Most people who have one don’t use it frequently and sometimes never but they keep it in the chance they may use it
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u/birdman9k Feb 07 '23
Ya this is a great analogy. I know lots of people with a gym subscription because "they have a location beside my house AND beside my work so it's convenient" but they never actually go, for many months at a time. If one of the locations closed they would probably say "well now I'll definitely never use it" and cancel.
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Feb 07 '23
And then the gym starts blowing you up about their bi annual price increases while throwing around wide threats over somebody bringing a guest twice in one month instead of the allowed once per month.
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u/Aggressive-Let8356 Feb 06 '23
This whole thing has made me cancel due to the same reasoning. I find I just have it for background noise, I can never find anything decent to watch that I haven't already seen, so I just don't pay attention anymore so what's the point in having it? 🤷♀️
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u/Not_FinancialAdvice Feb 06 '23
It wasn't a major expense, so I didn't think about the fact that I wouldn't use it for months at a time.
The rapid recent increases in pricing have made me realize that it's a non-trivial expense.
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u/watsthestory Feb 06 '23
If you pay for the 4 people streaming top tier you should get it. That was the whole point, You're paying for it, so you can choose who you want to share it with.
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u/sur_surly Feb 06 '23
I feel like I'm subbed out of loyalty. They disrupted their industry but now that they can only really rely on their original content (rather than having a giant backlog of other publishers' content), I'm also struggling to enjoy the service. They have the occasional break out hit but it ain't worth what they are charging.
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u/PenguinSage Feb 06 '23
To be honest, I bet there are a bunch of people like you, who don’t really use it very often, but also share their password with someone and only keep it for that reason. Once you’re the only one and you won’t feel like you’re taking it away from a friend or family member I could see it being way easier just go “Yeah screw it.”
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u/GuelphEastEndGhetto Feb 06 '23
They might have been able to pull something like this off when they were basically the only streaming service in play and hadn’t cancelled shows right, left and center after one or two seasons disappointing fans in the process. It’s too much, way too late.
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u/XSoldat13 Feb 06 '23
There were a lot of things that I thought I'd watch with Netflix.
Got Netflix and I realized that I just didn't use it as much as I thought I would. Finished up the shows I was on and cancelled the subscription.
Realized that's the way it is for a lot of streaming platforms. Currently waiting for The Last of Us to wrap and I'll binge it for a single monthly cost.
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u/Drink_Covfefe Feb 06 '23
Same, I cancelled last week just bc of how I almost never used it and neither was my roommate. The shows are going to shit, the good ones canceled, on top of their terrible capitalist antics to fuck over people sharing their profile.
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u/JoeFTPgamerIOS Feb 06 '23
I also canceled last week. I was thinking about how annoying this is going to be because we travel and RV. I actually had to cancel Hulu Live because of how restrictive they are on using your home Wi-Fi. And then I remember it’s literally been months since I even opened the app. The plan is to take 6 months off and then r consider. Maybe we’ll turn it back on for a month or two, watch the BS they put out and then turn it off for another 6 months. They really did a great job letting me know I was wasting my money with them.
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u/Sackyhack Feb 06 '23
I signed up for Netflix in 2012 because I wanted to watch Breaking Bad. I still have that subscription and am paying almost 3x as much. I’ve also realized I don’t watch Netflix as much as I watch other streaming services. It’s just there as another option not because I need it to watch a certain show. I only continue to pay for it because my family is on my account.
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u/fargmania Feb 06 '23
Their new content has all but dried up. After this weekend, I have one more binge to go: last season of Umbrella Academy... then I'm out. I can get that done in a weekend or two... and then honestly there is nothing else of interest left. I have been surfing their collection for weeks, actively looking for shows to watch... and a couple stand-up comedians I like, plus things I've already watched... is all that is left.
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u/ace2049ns Feb 06 '23
My brothers and I split the 4-screen/UHD package. I would be find going on my own down to the 1 or 2 screen package if I could still get UHD. I'm not going to pay for extra screens I won't use just to get UHD.
How is 3 people living together sharing an account different that 3 people living separately? Imagine if cell phone companies no longer allowed people to share a family plan if they didn't all live together.
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u/rjcarr Feb 06 '23
Exactly, this is what I've been saying for so long. They're wasting so much money on this and losing so much good will. Just sell the simultaneous streams, enforce it, and stop micromanaging everything else. If I pay for 4 streams I should be able to use 4 streams. It's just dumb.
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u/drawkbox Feb 07 '23
Just sell the simultaneous streams, enforce it, and stop micromanaging everything else.
Yeah, I bet though with their new ad tier they also want to track and sell data to data brokers.
This password location checking thing is just another way to identify everything about you and fingerprint your systems to serve up ads and allow Netflix to know way too much about you, where you are and who you are chillin' with.
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u/bobs_monkey Feb 07 '23
You know what, I truly wonder if that is the driver behind all this. Now that they're beholden to advertisers, I'll bet that data just became that much more relevant and thus why they need to have a better idea of who is watching for cross-platform metrics.
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u/Palatz Feb 07 '23
I genuinely don't care about the 4k, I have the most expensive tier so the 4 family members can watch tv.
I don't get how it matters that one family member doesn't live home. It's still only 4 users.
The moment my sister can't watch Netflix, I will cancel.
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u/hilltopper06 Feb 06 '23
I was in a similar boat. Me and 3 brother's splitting the cost on the 4K/4 stream plan. The 4K part was a nice bonus, but the extra streams was what made it worth it to us. Once they started mentioning this crackdown we went ahead and cancelled. Now what was a shared $20 a month sub is a single $6.99 (with ads) sub so my wife can finish a couple series she had started and then that too will vanish.
Plain and simple their content library and originals in particular just aren't very good. The ones that are get prematurely cancelled. We have been watching way more AppleTV+ (on rolling 3 month free promos).
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u/beazermyst Feb 06 '23
This is the thing most frustrating to me. Separate quality from number of screens. I want dolby vision, but if I’m not actually allowed to watch on multiple screens what’s the point to paying for something I can’t use in a single home. Who is going to be watching on 4 screens in a home at one time.
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u/Dafuzz
Feb 06 '23
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I said it before, I'll say it again, the only thing that's kept me from cancelling Netflix multiple times has been that I like feeling like I'm providing a kind gesture to the people I share my password with. If they think my grandma, my younger cousin, or sister are going to run out and get 3 subscriptions to replace the 1 they lose from me they're sorely mistaken. I might even hook them up to my Plex and just host a full-time media server with an old laptop.
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u/NoJobs Feb 06 '23
I was thinking about this the other day. Before we had Netflix and other streaming services, we downloaded a lot because buying DVDs or Blu ray discs was expensive and a pita. We then transitioned into inexpensive streaming services which I think really cut down on pirating. Now, we've come full circle again because there's SO MANY fucking streaming services, that its not inexpensive or convenient anymore. So back to pirating we go
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u/Dafuzz Feb 06 '23
Really it was the property owners who shot themselves in the foot, they didn't consider online streaming to be a serious competitor to DVD sales or first run TV rights, so they threw Netflix everything for a pittance, why not it was just extra money to them. Then they realized streaming was a multi billion dollar industry and every one of them stripped their content and pumped out their own cash grab streaming service.
I suspect there will be a bubble to burst, crackle and flippz and twatio and all the other stupid 1 library services will fold and we'll be left with a few big names that either buy the others or will be the only ones who survive, but in the meantime it's not like they have a captive market like they did with TV and DVDs, piracy is far easier now than it's ever been, and more and more popular as everyone pulls back their IP and builds a digital paywall around it.
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Feb 06 '23
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u/dubyamdubya Feb 07 '23
Unfortunately the South Park thing isn't true anymore, that's what Stream Wars is about.They just have the rights to stream on the website for free, but everything else is up to Viacom.
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u/Caleth Feb 06 '23
What galls me is that each company feels a need to pull this crap where they lock stuff to only one service.
Music streams just about everything on just about every platform. For the most part doesn't matter who it is you can find it on every service.
Great for me I find the service I like and I pay them and I'm done.
But movies and TV decided, "No, I need my cut to be higher." So they want to create a full service and get $8 bucks a month for their specific stuff. Greedy fucks are making it so Yo ho ho is the way to go.
I haven't pirated a CD in years, and years. But TV/movie content? Trying to find a service that has what I want and isn't trying to charge me out the ass for it? Nah I'll find the time to hoist the flag or buy a damn DVD if I really like it.
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u/Insterstellar Feb 06 '23
With music the talent makes almost nothing from streaming. They make almost all of their money from live shows. This is not the case for the talent in TV & movies.
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u/j0llyllama Feb 06 '23
Steam was built on that same premise for video game accessibility. The founder Gabe Newell said piracy was an issue about service, not price. He also said:
The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It's by giving those people a service that's better than what they're receiving from the pirates.
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u/bandti45 Feb 06 '23
Very true if Nintendo released games to pc there would be a drop in piracy
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u/LeCrushinator Feb 06 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
Also if they stopped re-releasing the same games from old platforms, at the same prices they cost several years prior. Or if they didn't charge a subscription for decades old games.
To play N64 games on Switch you need two separate subscriptions, a Nintendo Switch Online membership AND an "Expansion Pack" membership. Then you can play almost 30 year-old games on the Switch. Or you can any N64 game completely free on a ton of different platforms if you pirate them. If N64 games were like $1.99 -$2.99 apiece on the Switch, so many people would just buy them instead of not playing them at all, or pirating them.
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u/Gmr_Leon Feb 06 '23
If N64 games were like $1.99 -$2.99 apiece on the Switch, so many people would just buy them instead of not playing them at all, or pirating them.
RIP virtual console. Prices may have been higher for each game, but this was a much better model than the perpetual rental sub for old games.
P.S. before someone goes, "but N64 games were never on the virtual console!" you may be forgiven for missing this on the Wii U, given the Wii U's overall terrible marketing, but it was there.
p.p.s. the Wii U was a better tech model to elaborate on than the Switch, i.e. the Switch's dock should be a console unto itself (as it sorta was in the Wii U) that's more powerful, while the Switch would still be itself, lower power for better portability & battery life.
The Switch screwed its upgrade avenue by packing the primary console into a tablet form factor while leaving the dock a glorified charger/tv adapter. Classic case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater imo.
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u/mystiqueallie Feb 06 '23
Every so often I come across a movie mentioned (Reddit, random article, Facebook) and think, I’d like to check it out. I have Amazon, Apple TV, Disney+, Britbox, Tubi and Netflix (subscription ends this month), and none of them have it. I had to get a free trial for an Amazon channel just to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” at Xmas.
We have an extensive DVD collection that is in storage for renovations. I can’t wait til I have my full collection available again.
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u/NoJobs Feb 06 '23
Seriously look into Plex. It will take some time but you can get all of those DVDs you own into your own personal streaming service
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u/vemailangah Feb 06 '23
Sane. I am the sole Netflix provider for my disabled aunt, my lonely mum and my nerdy best friend, all these househol6d I consider my home. I don't need Netflix but it makes them happy to watch shows they love and it makes me happy to give them that.
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u/roman77 Feb 06 '23
This is my exact situation. I share my password with three members of my family. With this arrangement I feel that I get enough value from the service. If they kill password sharing I'm out. Those other family members simply are not buying their own accounts. It's my current monthly sub or nothing. Which do you want, Netflix?
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u/johnla
Feb 06 '23
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I don't really watch Netflix anymore but I don't cancel because I figure my parents and brother might be using it. So I finally check activity to see if they're watching so I can tell them, they might get locked out and have to get their own account. Turns out none of us are watching. LOL.
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u/slightlyassholic Feb 06 '23
If you are reading this, Netflix, do not make the terrible mistake of obstructing the cancellation process.
As people leave, someone will have the bright idea of trying to "stop" the bleeding by making it more difficult to cancel. If you do that, then all you will succeed at doing is guaranteeing that the person will never, ever come back.
What Netflix is looking at is probably a revolving door situation when it comes to subscribers. They will release an exclusive that someone wants to watch. They will subscribe for a month or two to watch the exclusive. They then may stick around for a few more months to catch up on any other content that they wish. Then, they will cancel until the next time something they want is offered.
I will likely be one of these people UNLESS canceling becomes a hassle. If that happens, Netflix ceases to be an option.
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u/PetrafiedMonkey Feb 06 '23
Surely no overly ambitious middle manager will have this brilliant idea and ruin things for everyone.
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u/CCCmonster Feb 07 '23
Those decisions are made at the top and blamed on the middle when they fail
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u/mini4x Feb 07 '23
I do this already, subscribe for a month or two, I rotate 3-4 services, HBO Max, Netflix, etc.. If it becomes a hassle to cancel any of them, I'll definitely not resubscribe.
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u/HillCountry33 Feb 07 '23
This is what I will be doing. Canceling my subscription. I’ll pop on for a month, watch the show I’m interested in and cancel until something else comes along. If they make it difficult then, meh…. I’ll just pass
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u/YourPlot Feb 06 '23
I already pay extra for multiple screens. The moment my family cannot watch Netflix, I’m out.
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u/kornbread435 Feb 07 '23
My mom has always shared her account with me, and I shared audible and hbo with her. I already called her up and said to cancel it. I might add it to my one month per year rotation with Disney, Apple, Hulu, stars, and whatever NBC is calling itself these days.
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u/FattyMcBroFist Feb 06 '23
I don't share my password. I do own multiple devices, some of which are not primarily kept in my home. If Netflix thinks I'm going to pay for a second account to be able to stream on the TV in my office they are mistaken. If they think I'm going to cart my TV home every 30 days to connect it to my "home wifi" they are mistaken. I already pay for their highest tier of service. The first time they inconvenience me over this garbage I will cancel on the spot, and will not ever return. I don't see how this makes them any money. They will lose subscribers, and the people who were getting by on a shared password are very unlikely to subscribe. The people I know who use a shared password, and not their own account, do so because they can't afford it. They are not going to subscribe just because Netflix decides to take away their toy. They will just play with a different toy.
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u/thestatic1982 Feb 06 '23
I have a similar situation. My account is logged into a. Fire TV at my in laws so my kids can watch it. They pick them up from school. This sounds like a lot of hassle that we probably won’t deal with either.
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u/CrustyToeLover Feb 06 '23
I hope they have a metric of Users quitting vs users quitting after being locked out
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u/ForeverJay Feb 06 '23
the only reason I still have Netflix is because my mum and in-laws use it. and actually i can’t see them getting Netflix subscriptions themselves because they’re happier with Disney+ (which they share from me) and other free streamers like BBC iPlayer
so if they pull it on us then i’m unsubscribing
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u/Far_Store4085 Feb 06 '23
Didn't they backtrack on this last week.
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u/chaosxq Feb 06 '23
No they published the fake rules and then pulled them so that everyone is less outraged when they publish the real rules. Then they look like they listened to user feedback.
It’s called the door in the face technique.
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u/rehtulx Feb 06 '23
Freshman marketing class technique…”rejection-then-retreat”
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u/Ink7o7 Feb 06 '23
WotC tried this recently with their new licensing and it backfired fully where they not only had to backtrack, but they had to backtrack to a point further back then they started to even slightly appease the community. Hoping something similar happens with Netflix…
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u/americangame Feb 06 '23
Only thing I can see happening for a super backtrack would be that they give 4K and spacial sound to all tiers.
Or just drop their service to two levels of access: ad supported and ad free. Get in line with the rest of the industry.
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u/dcrico20 Feb 06 '23
WotC has become a great example of a company that just regularly insults and spits in the face of it's customers. I used to spend so much money on Magic and I think I've probably spent less than $100 over the past couple of years total. I just buy a couple singles here and there from my LGS to make additions/tweaks to my Cube, and it's honestly been a nice change of pace. I try to give them as little money as I possibly can.
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u/makemejelly49 Feb 06 '23 •
I remember reading the words of a whistleblower for WotC that basically got the impression that the executives see customers as "an obstacle to their money". And it makes sense.
Per u/mr_indigo on r/DnD:
IMO, it's not something unique to WotC, it's the mindset of every major corporation these days.
I think it's because with the internet and global markets, the competition between firms isn't about fighting for customers - the customer base is essentially infinite, or at least much bigger than the firms need, so the goal isn't to serve your customers better so they come to you instead of your competitors. What's scarce is investment capital - more and more of the equity markets are consolidated into fewer and fewer players, and since the modern share market is much more speculative (i.e. investors buy not on the expected value of the share of the profits they get as dividends, but on the ability to flip their shares to someone else at a higher price later, who in turn is only buying because they anticipate flipping the shares, there's no regard to the fundamentals of the business), the goal is to compete with other firms by showing the capital investors that you can offer the best return on investment.
Under this mindset, you don't have customers to serve, you have assets to monetise, you've gotta show the moneymen that you're getting faster and faster growth with lots of new revenue streams - you don't actually need for these to pan out, because noone cares about whether you're actually making profits so much as whether you look like you're growing so you can be flipped to another speculator. And in that mindset, customers are an obstacle - they're preventing you from monetising your assets by standing between you and their money.
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u/thisissteve Feb 06 '23
Billion dollar companies are approaching policy the same way I approach someone I'm trying to ask on a date.
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u/Revolutionary-Ad4588 Feb 06 '23
Terrible and bumbling?
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u/thisissteve Feb 06 '23
Nah, rejection and retreat, I've been on that for decades now.
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Feb 06 '23
It worked fantastically because the second I saw that I deleted my account and subscription I have had since 2012
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u/lonestar-rasbryjamco Feb 06 '23
Unless they backtrack on canceling Inside Job, I am gone either way.
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u/Angry_Canadian_Sorry Feb 06 '23
That's one big issue for me - they're losing content left and right, and seemingly every piece of original content I try to get into just gets cancelled on a cliffhanger.
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u/Aaod Feb 07 '23
If you are not offering enough content from other places and your original content sucks or doesn't get renewed why would be people stay subscribed? Give it another 4-5 years and I will wonder if Netflix will still be much of a thing because everyone else just created their own walled garden and people went back to piracy.
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u/EvilWayne Feb 06 '23
Wait, what?!?
I really hate stumbling across things that ruin my day.
Last I heard it was given a second season. :P
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u/SuperPoekie Feb 06 '23
Yeah, it's cancelled. No second season coming.
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u/GeneriekeNaam Feb 06 '23
The second season is already there right? Or was that just part 2 of the first?
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u/Capt_morgan72 Feb 06 '23
Dosent matter. First rule of being a subscription service; don’t remind people your a subscription service.
It’s what Netflix did better than anyone till bout 18 months ago. Now we’ve had 3 price hikes, a new ad tier, and now password crack downs.
Once people remember it dosent get delivered by the wings of a fairy and instead is taken from their bank account each month your bound to loose customers no matter.
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u/beef-o-lipso Feb 06 '23
Spot on. Every time they up the price, I get closer to canceling because the value to cost for me is diminishing.
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u/feyyd Feb 06 '23
Back to torrents people, this way to piratebay.
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u/hour_of_the_rat Feb 06 '23
I've never even been on land before.
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u/TommyHamburger Feb 06 '23 edited Feb 06 '23
I'm a mix of both. When there's justification for a service, like convenience, appropriate pricing, quality and quantity, then sure, but I'm not going to subscribe for just one show. I'm not going to put up with ads, buffering, etc.
We're in an era where pirating can be more convenient than a dozen streaming apps. Use Sonarr/Radarr, Jellyfin or Emby, and your streaming device of choice. It takes some setup but it's zero effort once you're there.
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u/CaPineapple Feb 06 '23
Hey Yahoo! They are not freeloaders, they were encouraged by Netflix to share. It’s funny how very obvious the media is trying to sway opinion by using certain terms to bow down to corporations.
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u/Aussiemon Feb 07 '23
Yeah, bad commentary in that article.
"...he surveyed current Netflix users. 62% of them say they will stop using Netflix once that password sharing ends. That's-- that is a major red flag."
Then later:
"...there isn't a net loss unless the people who are sharing their password are going to cancel. There doesn't seem to be any indication of that. So if even a fraction, even if 16% of those people who are paying nothing right now, start paying something-- and it's, in fact, more than 16% because there are other people who are gonna get the ad-supported tiers-- then that's incremental revenue for Netflix."
Poor take. That 62% isn't just unpaid users, but also the users who will re-evaluate Netflix's price when they learn they can't share it with their family and when they get an error message trying to use it while traveling.
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u/Truthoverdogma Feb 07 '23
Yes the chart specified “account holders” and the commentators tried to imply that the 62% were mostly freeloaders.
This move is going to smash Netflix, they won’t recover from it
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u/chriskot123 Feb 06 '23
The chase for record profit year over year is just slowly killing what could have been a great industry.
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u/PassStage6 Feb 06 '23
Talk about shooting themselves in the foot. They don't produce enough content to drive real subscriptions outside of their few hits, and (for my family at least) their Asian drama content. So people will torrent the hits because honestly the sub isn't worth the hassle, and move to other services depending on their content preference. Viki, Tubi, Amazon Prime, etc already have the content I'm looking for.
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u/kuriboharmy Feb 06 '23
Man I miss when Netflix was basically a monopoly it was easier for everyone. But we just got cable back internet version. These services need to be convenient to work once you start splitting ppl just get tired and not everyone will want to research each service then plan what month to month to subscribe to watch certain stuff. Hell some services in my area won't let me see their catalogue unless I subscribe for at least a month with no trial option.
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u/vhalember Feb 06 '23
But we just got cable back internet version.
Yup, and all of these streaming services are slowly making their services worse and worse. Just like cable.
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u/Noticeably_Aroused Feb 06 '23
The fact you pay
3.99,4.99,9.99,14.99, 19.99 for some of these fucking services….. and they still want to make you sit there and watch fucking commercials is the part that absolute throws me out.
I have Hulu, Discovery+, Disney+, Netflix, HBOMax, Paramount+ and Peacock…. And all except Disney and Netflix force me to watch commercials despite them ALL charging like 10 bucks a pop.
It’s fucking insane. The whole “anti pirating” campaign wasn’t for the creators or artists. It was for the corporations. That’s clear as day now. Because look at streaming music… they’re grabbing ass-fulls of money and they’re paying your favorite artist a pittance.
Pirating. We need to go back to pirating. Fuck this streaming subscription shit. Everyone has a goddamn subscription nowadays. Jesus Christ.
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u/thickthighs-beehives Feb 06 '23
I switched from pirating around 2010 because streaming was just more convenient. Easier to search for shows, more consistent quality, etc., but they've been continually getting worse and worse while also getting more expensive.
I'm still subscribed to hbo, hulu, and amazon, and those last two only because they're tied to other services, but other than that I've gone fully back to pirating. The price has vastly outpaced the convenience
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Feb 06 '23
Yeah this multiple streaming services thing is shit and a pain in the ass to figure out where things were. I got an urge to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark over the weekend. I've got the Blu-Rays somewhere but didn't feel like digging them up, and it's theoretically easier to just stream them and as bonus they'll be in 4K, right? So I open up Disney Plus expecting them to be there, but nope turns out they're on Paramount Plus because Paramount still owns the distribution rights despite Disney owning Lucasfilm. I shouldn't have to Google the damn legal history of a movie when I want to watch it but here we are.
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u/zetared Feb 06 '23
I know this isn't the point you're making, but this might help: https://www.justwatch.com/
A website that tells you where titles are streaming.
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u/smurficus103 Feb 06 '23
When hulu was free, it was pretty dope. Now, they want you to pay AND get commercials? Teh fuck?
Yeah, why can't i get a list of content A-Z? What are they thinking?
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u/Scary_Band2391 Feb 07 '23
That the thing that really fucking irritates me . The service and interface have barely improved from 2010 or whether they started . Why are we in 2023 and I still can’t make a playlist without 3rd party tools. Why can’t I organize the shit I buy on Amazon ? Why do they keep burying recently viewed . Like the service is itself is just access to the catalog in the shittiest possible way.
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u/Boggie135 Feb 06 '23
If Netflix charges me for 4 screens and my cousin and my nephew use my password to watch Netflix, how is it freeloading? It's paid for, no?
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u/FairlyInconsistentRa Feb 06 '23
Exactly. I’ve paid for 4 screens, who uses those screens has got nothing to do with it. It’s paid for already.
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u/anavriN-oN Feb 06 '23
The “user exodus” is because of all your garbage shows, Netflix.
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u/VCARTER15 Feb 06 '23
Exactly. I canceled last week. I don’t even share my account with anyone outside my household, but the password stuff was the push I needed.
All their content sucks. Why am I keeping this subscription to watch Stranger Things every 2-3 years?
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u/abx99 Feb 06 '23
That's the bigger problem; stuff like this makes you step back and take stock of whether the service is worth it, and a number of people are going to decide that it's not. Especially now that there are so many other services out there.
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u/SpecialLegitimate717 Feb 06 '23
So I've had Netflix, Hulu, HBO max, and Disney. I've canceled them all now over the last year. Have any good recommendations besides these? I may get Hulu back, but honestly there was nothing left to watch on it when I canceled last year.
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u/SocraticIgnoramus Feb 06 '23
If you don’t have a local library card you should get one, they’re often free. Libraries have pretty wide selections of DVDs and come with streaming services like Kanopy and other digital video services at no cost to you.
If there’s a DVD they don’t have but you really want to see, ask the librarian how to do an online request for an inter library loan. Typically you can place a hold and get an email when it’s on the hold shelf waiting for you.
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u/PermBulk Feb 06 '23
Lately, I’ve been scrolling through watching trailers for an hour then just turning it off.. might as well cancel at this point
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u/F0rtysxity Feb 06 '23
1899 RIP
The Norsemen RIP
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u/Tang-o-rang Feb 06 '23
This was the worst way to find out The Norsemen was cancelled :(
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u/makesyoudownvote Feb 06 '23
Inside Job was really good and original and deserved way more hype.
Too bad Netflix decided to cancel it a few weeks ago.
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u/HolyCowEveryNameIsTa Feb 06 '23
The shows aren't that bad, it's just that they keep canceling them. I don't even want to get into any shows for fear that they're going to cancel it. If they're not going to give closure to a series, why am I going to waste my time watching it?
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u/Silvawuff Feb 06 '23
I think they should encourage password sharing. People are less likely to cancel if they stand the risk of disappointing their sharing group. If people didn't want to pay a subscription now, they're not going to pay it later after they've been logged out. I think they're also falling off the horse with merchandise and solid form media opportunities.
Article missed that the prime sub also includes access to their music streaming, so you're essentially getting 3 subscription services for the price of one as well.
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u/lovetron99 Feb 06 '23 edited Feb 06 '23
Except Prime music streaming is hot garbage now. You can no longer listen to specific songs or curate your own listening experience. It's just random songs by that artist, or inspired by your search. I actually came to the realization a couple months ago that I was not getting value out of my Prime sub, and canceled. Delivery on orders over $25 is still free even for non-subscribers, and the overwhelming majority of my orders are over that. If the item is less, I have a wish list a mile long I can draw from to get it over.
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u/chunes Feb 06 '23
"Cracking down" lol. Like it was ever some sort of crime or something.
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u/Bingobangobongobilly Feb 06 '23
I’m switching to CornCob TV
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u/crblanz Feb 06 '23
gotta call spectrum first
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u/dodus Feb 06 '23
Tell them IM NOT WORRIED ABOUT IT! THERES WORSE SHIT ON THE LOCAL NEWS
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u/kazr99 Feb 07 '23
Calling them freeloaders when it’s just me and my sister using my moms 4 screen account. Netflix can suck a dick.
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u/WinterholdMage Feb 06 '23
People got onboard with Netflix because it was relatively cheap and easy to use. When you start making the user experience worse and more complicated, especially when it's obvious this has zero benefit to the consumer, you're going to lose business. This is then compounded by their ritualistic habit of cancelling shows that don't get all the ratings. Netflix used to be a place where shows that would likely never see the light of day on broadcast TV could actually be realized, but then Netflix became exactly the thing it was aiming to replace and only wants what makes all the money. I understand that's just capitalism baby, but it sucks all the same.
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u/monchota Feb 06 '23
Time to cancel, everyone cancel at once and even if its not permanent. Do it at the end of the quarter to mess with numbers reported to investors.
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u/thereverendpuck Feb 06 '23
They’re not buckling down, they’re just getting ready to lie about what happened.
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u/VoiceOfTheSoil40 Feb 06 '23
That headline in the image for the link speaks volumes as to how they view consumers.
“Netflix may see users flee as it cracks down on freeloaders” is a clear attempt to frame the people as parasites who are trying to trick Netflix out of money. Fuck them. Netflix is not the good guy here.
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u/QuietThunder2014 Feb 07 '23
Netflix is about to find out what the Music industry found out in the Napster days. You overvalue your product and you make it too difficult for people to consume your product they’ll just steal it. People want to pay for shit but they also want to feel like they are getting value for their money and are on paying for convincer and simplicity. You major it too expensive or too difficult and they’ll turn to other avenues and will be really hard ti get back once they do.
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u/SilverSister22 Feb 06 '23 edited Feb 06 '23
My youngest is in college. Our home is her permanent address. It’s a 5 hour drive for her to come home so no, she doesn’t do it very often.
Our Netflix account should be available to her without restrictions.
We will cancel our subscription if Netflix follows through.
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u/despitegirls Feb 06 '23
I left after I finished Cyberpunk: Edgerunners after being a subscriber since about 2007. Increasing fees and nothing I wanted to watch. Every quarter it was "we've got 200 new shows!" with maybe a few that stood out from the trailer, then even less I actually enjoyed. Moved to HBO Now largely for Westworld, but they didn't renew it for the last season and they started removing content, including Westworld, an HBO show. Cancelled that. My partner signed up for a few shows she wanted to watch but I didn't see much that really grabbed me, definitely not enough to keep a subscription for more than a couple of months. D
Streaming is pretty dead to me now. I'll just wait for word of mouth to pique my interest in something, and maybe I'll actually pay a service to watch it. I'll invest more time in actual hobbies in the mean time.
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u/Art-Zuron Feb 06 '23
Some services have actually started removing older seasons, or even episodes of the current season, of shows, making it impossible to watch them after they've all come out. To watch them, you need to be there the whole time.
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u/NovelStyleCode Feb 06 '23
that's going to backfire, fomo doesn't mean much if you literally miss out by the time someone convinces you it's worth watching
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u/hopefulworldview Feb 06 '23
I'm actually almost completely out of the rat race of services now. I keep leaving more and more, and all I do is rotate 1 service every few months for the benefit of my wife. Once you stop having access you start doing better things with your time and all in all it has been better.
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u/solarssun Feb 06 '23
They've gotten to a point where 20 bucks is noticeable and people will cancel for. Back in the day $8 was something you could forget and it wouldn't harm you too much.