Netflix’s Unnecessary Password Crackdown Is Already A Hot Mess
from the annoyance-as-a-business-model dept
Netflix’s password sharing crackdown hasn’t even launched yet in the States, but is already a public relations mess.
The plan is to try to force Netflix customers to pay an extra $2-$3 every month for service for any users using your credentials outside of the home. An accidentally leaked Netflix help guide last week indicated that users who don’t log into their Netflix account in a 31 day period would face the new surcharges, something that didn’t go over well with either users or celebrities that travel a lot.
The company was then forced to backtrack, stating the guides were posted in error, and intended for customers in countries like Chile and Peru where the crackdown had already launched. Those efforts, as we’d mentioned previously, were also reportedly a confusing mess for subscribers in those countries, who say it was never really clear how the inconsistently-enforced system actually worked.
Netflix is embracing the move because the company’s growth has hit a wall internationally, forcing it to begin nickel-and-diming existing subscribers if Wall Street is to get its improved quarterly returns.
The problem: Netflix has already raised rates recently, and already charges users more money if they want to be able to play multiple streams simultaneously, meaning they’re effectively double dipping after more than a decade of informing customers that they fully supported password sharing.
Netflix is convinced that the move will net them millions in additional revenue, but as we’ve also previously noted, projected revenues from the crackdown don’t appear well-rooted in reality. Some analysts have been highly skeptical that Netflix’s password crackdown pays significant dividends at all:
Benchmark Co. analyst Matthew Harrigan, in a note last week, expressed skepticism that it would be a “growth game-changer,” opining that the strategy “cannibalizes full-ride member growth.” He pegged the incremental revenue lift at less than 4% revenue, even with generous assumptions about how many piggybackers Netflix might be able to convert to Extra Member accounts.
The question then is: is that modest bump in revenue worth alienating and annoying your existing customers in a competitive streaming market? We’re apparently going to find out.
To be clear, I still think Netflix has value at its current monthly rate, and many people who complain about the new rate hikes are lazy and likely won’t cancel. On the flip side, this move remains the latest signal from the company that it’s done with being innovative and disruptive and has, as publicly traded companies usually do, shifted toward nickel-and-diming and turf protection as it attempts to fend off competitors.
But angering your customers, and making them more likely to shift to competitors that don’t try and nickel-and-dime users, isn’t a particularly brilliant business plan any way you slice it. And if the rollout is as sloppy as it was in Chile and Peru, this won’t be the last screw up users experience.
Filed Under: cable tv, competition, netflix, password sharing, password sharing crackdown, streaming, tv, video
Companies: netflix
Comments on “Netflix’s Unnecessary Password Crackdown Is Already A Hot Mess”
… and they were in English (despite being for a Chilean or Peruvian market) because… ah… yeah, Tech Support had to be able to read them! Yeah, that’s it!
No! No! Wait… it’s because our web site is translated into all these different languages! yeah, that’s it! Believe us! (Please!)
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Re:
Also Chile and Peru are garbage countries, you don’t care if we act stupidly and unfairly in those markets, do you? We would never do that kind of thing here.
And still misses the boat because lol those are merely further bits people were using to point out the idiocy of the whole thing.
Re: Netflix's new educational initiative
In order to facilitate multilingualism, Netflix will translate all their documentation into a random language of their choice.
I canceled right after that leak came out so there is that. I get better quality from the high seas.
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good
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Hallo
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hallo
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hallo
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many many
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too much
Musk buys Netflix?
Just wondered if I’d missed the news that Musk took over Netflix. Charging for password sharing after years of promoting it feels suspiciously similar to charging for using an API after years of benefiting from others using it. And the decision was made without foreseeing obviously negative consequences, another Mwitter trademark.
Netflix broke out the full auto foot gun
Between abusive cash grabs and declining content, Netflix is ceasing to be a value proposition. I get better content cheaper from PBS Passport
It won’t be as sloppy as it was in Chile and Peru. They were the beta testers; it went there first so they could learn how to do it right when brining it to more lucrative markets.
That doesn’t make it a good idea. It just means it’s likely to be a little more polished when it comes here.
I can also say, I follow a seasonal rotation system, where I’ll carry Netflix for several months, then D+, then maybe HBO Max or Hulu. We try to keep one broad service at a time (D+, HBO, Netflix, Hulu) and one targeted (Paramount, Peacock, Britbox, etc), and Prime (because shipping). It’s already natural for me to cancel as a service from time to time.
With in mind, Netflix is ALREADY the worst-behaved for this practice. If I don’t come back to Netflix after 10 months, we lose our family profiles, history, and watch lists. Other services don’t seem to do that.
Additionally, I have a college-age daughter. It’s one thing to crack down on sharing generally, but it’s another thing entirely to exclude someone who still lists our house as her home/permanent address, is still a dependent on our taxes, and is still part of the family. College is already expensive enough. If she can’t use the account while at college, we’ll be sticking with a service that allows her to participate with the rest of the family.
Re: my viewing history on Netflix has no value
The only think Netflix has that I couldn’t easily restore is my viewing/rating history. But Netflix doesn’t seem to be utilizing that for any purpose. I’ve rated 1000s of stuff for years and they still think that Emily in Paris is a 98% match for me? I. Give. Up.
I look forward to them staring at the growing puddle of blood around their foot as they hold the gun wondering what happened.
Re:
Oh I’m sure they’ll break out the usual boogie-man and blame copyright infringement.
‘Our service is making less money after our new change, it must be those dastardly pirates because we certainly couldn’t be wrong!’
Re: Re:
checks
Still not affected by any of these plans…
Pirates
Once again: CONTENT FRAGMENTATION IS NOT COMPETITION!
How are so many people missing this part of the equation on why Netflix has been hitting the wall?
you guys know the backstory on this, right?
Okay here’s how this absurd idea started. A year ago, Netflix execs were facing a quarterly report that would be baaaad. After years of growth, it hit a wall. That’s bad because their inflated share price was based on the blithe assumption that there are a billion streaming customers in the world. If the true figure is a quarter of that (which Netflix hadn’t even reached yet), then everyone panic-sells and the stock crashes.
So Netflix needed some distractions to make investors think they’re on top of things. Distraction #1: ad tier. Distraction #2: password sharing crackdown.
How do I know this was all just BS? They’d never said a peep about wanting to do either before that quarterly call. A company that’s thinking things through doesn’t just pull something out of their butt 24 hours before they face a mob of angry, skittish investors.
But they said they would do these things and now they are stuck with implementing them.
PS didn’t work. Stock crashed anyway. The stink of desperation was too obvious.
And this backstory matters because the thing that originally caused the bad quarter still exists, namely, that Netflix’s business model works only as long as they have no real competitors. But now they do.
They are battling to hang onto subscribers domestically while facing a future of growth in Asia where the average subscription is literally half that of North America. Yet if they slow down their content spent, people bail. Raise prices? People bail.
Where does this merry-go-round end? Bought by Amazon I guess.
Re:
Except the “competition” is actually pulling content from Netflix and sticking it behind their own streaming services.
That isn’t competition.
A New User
For whatever reason, nearly every time my partner signs into Netflix, it sends me an email saying, a new user has signed into your account or some such. If this is how it counts users, I can’t see wanting to bother with the system for more than a few iterations of this.
I was already paying extra...
I’ve been a Netflix member since before streaming was even a thing. I was already paying Netflix’s higher tier for the extra screens because I have immediate family sharing my account. I don’t need the 4K that comes with it,and was only paying for the extra viewing. I’ve already dropped down a tier on this news, and may drop it completely if (when) they go through with this. Then I’ll just subscribe for a month or two out of the year to catch up and cancel again.
I don’t think this will go over well.
AMC Too
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/06/business/amc-movie-ticket-prices/index.html
AMC is now planning to charge more for better seats at movie theaters.
It’s a vicious process. By definition, only your customers are giving you money, so if you want more money, it becomes so tempting to try to soak your existing customers for more instead of increasing your base, especially in saturated markets. They probably recognize that it will engender ill will, but hope they will make more than they lose.
Re:
I’m surprised you aren’t bitching about “woke movies” or some shit.
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Re: Re:
I’m a member of AMC A*List. I love going to movies. I saw 150 in theaters in 2022 and I’m at about 15 this year. Nothing was really offensively woke, even when touching on social justice topics. I did love the scene in Tár where Cate Blanchett demolishes a “BIPOC pansexual” student who disdains Bach as a dead cis white man, even though it’s used against her later.
Let’s see what else I remember. Bros played all sorts of queer identities for laughs. In A Man Called Otto, Tom Hanks is very nice to and accepting of a young trans man kicked out of home by parents. Women Talking is very unrealistic in how the women talk, including having a trans man, given their supposed illiterate religious background – it’s easy more like College Philosophy Students Talking. Gangubai Kathiawadi has a trans woman politician as a villain.
Re: Re: Re:
Of course you did, you bigoted piece of shit. Which one got you stiffer than an ironing board: a queer person being berated or a person of color being berated? Or was the intersectionality a form of Viagra for you?
Re: Re: Re:2
I loved it because even wokest Hollywood recognizes that woke ideology is widely hated and ripe for satire and attack. Especially the notion that being a part of the woke ideological favored victim groups gives someone a “way of knowing” that’s privileged over factual reality.
What you say is especially funny because Lydia Tár is herself lesbian. But lesbians are now the enemy of the woke, because they refuse to become romantically and sexually involved with men who claim to be women, only with real women.
Re: Re: Re:2
It’s great because even wokest Hollywood recognizes that woke ideology is widely hated and ripe for satire and attack. Especially the notion that being a part of the woke ideological favored victim groups gives someone a “way of knowing” that’s privileged over factual reality.
Lydia Tár is herself lesbian, so it’s a queer person berating another queer person. But lesbians are now the enemy of the woke, because they refuse to become romantically and sexually involved with men who claim to be women, only with real women. The woke see that as an ultimate betrayal.
Re: Re: Re:3
Cute, you think you cis fucks can get away with mocking the rainbow mafia.
You can start kissing goodbye to your anal virginity, Hyman. Your re-education futanari will be sent to your place of residence shortly.
Re: Re: Re:4
Sentiments like this are why men claiming to be women, especially male rapists, need to be kept out of women’s prisons.
https://sputniknews.com/20230130/scotland-pausing-policy-of-jailing-transgender-rapists-in-womens-prisons-1106816914.html
Re: Re: Re:4
Notice also that vile rape threats like these are never flagged by the TechDirt community, despite the fact that they are abusive by any reasonable person standard, while mentioning the reality that men can never be women is always flagged.
That’s not surprising. Woke ideologues are happy to use violence when they think they can get away with it, be it antifa, or looting, riots, and arson in the name of BLM, or the occupation of the Oklahoma state house by woke gender ideologues.
Re: Re: Re:5
You had it too good for too long. Enjoy your tight pucker while it lasts.
Re: Re: Re:3
Sorry for the duplicate. I really need to stop posting as signed-in. I can never tell whether MM has decided to delete my post or is just taking forever to get around to releasing it.
Re:
I dunno people might pay and extra $5 for a floor they won’t stick too
Next they will require a full year membership to battle us signing in for a month to catch up. Then they will lose even more subscribers and the spiral continues.
The art of entertainment
I used to watch TV – then the ads got to be 60% of the time slot.
Then I watched movies – then the ads to to be too annoying
Then I started to stream – then the lag got to be infuriating, the antics insane, the content mind numbing.
Now I read e-books, but not for long. They are starting to annoy the hell out of me as well. Why do I have to connect to read it?
I dont know how it works in the states, but in the UK most residential broadband connections have dyhnamic ips that change periodically – so I dont see how netflix intends to define the ‘home ip’.
Re:
Aggregate statistics of IP’s in the same network-block combined with other metadata (WiFi network names, mac-addresses etc) and subscriber information. There are companies that aggregate this type of information and sell geolocation by IP as a service, there’s even free tools for it but they aren’t usually as exact. See http://www.iplocation.net or http://www.geolocation.com for example.
Re:
There are a number of ways. One is to “Finger print” a browser, especially on Windows or Mac. Even with systems in the same house, it’s normal for that fingerprint to be a bit different. Add up the numbers of unique fingerprints and that’s the number of folks using that account. Is that what they are doing? Doubtful, otherwise they’d not be ticking off people left and right. Likely they are using IP addresses with concurrent logins, which is at least logically sane, but practically isn’t because their systems don’t accurately disconnect idle logins.
Here it’s already wreaking havoc. Plenty of people I know and others I follow on social stuff are outraged and many saying they were already about to cancel and just did it.
With what I pay for Netflix today I have at least 5 other streaming options. Granted I’m using promotions and bundles with other useful services so the real number would be closer to 3. But all of them give me at least 2 screens, sometimes 3 without extra charge and I share them with my relatives that don’t live with me. The moment I can’t share and the cheaper option doesn’t offer full quality I’m slashing Netflix and it won’t be something too painful considering the content has been degrading in quality over the years and they developed a very annoying habit of simply canceling stuff.
They are in for a surprise if they really pull the plug on shared screens without some serious reviewing of their pricing, what their plans offer and their content.
Already Cancelled
I had been a Netflix subscriber before they had streaming. Jumped on the 4 screen subscription when it first became available as we had lots of kids at home plus it was the only one to offer the UHD.
Canceled after seeing them continue to roll this out in other countries ( I was hoping they would smarten up).
Too many other options out there to put up with this.
People who complain about it are too lazy to cancel? You’re terrible
Re:
Maybe could have been phrased better, but the point is many people who complain about it won’t follow through and cancel.
CANCEL YOUR NETFLIX SUBSCRIPTION KNOW AND STOP THE ABUSE !!!
#CANCELYOURNETLIX their are other cheaper ,better platforms to choose from. WHY ??? stay with an abusive company that does NOT take in consideration their clients. We the PEOPLE are the ones who put Netflix where they are and We the PEOPLE decide when its time to put them to rest.
NetFlix Password Fiasco
They are now coming to Spain. Here is a copy of a chat I just had with a NetFlix customer service person after clicking on the link inside their email announcing the “program”. It clearly shows an attempt to monetize multiple locations and has nothing to do with security….
L
Louise Angel
Netflix Customer Service
N
Hello, what can we help you with today?
Netflix • 1:05 PM
I tried this last night but received no reply…..
1:05 PM
N
These articles might answer your questions, or you can chat with an agent.
How to pay for Netflix
How to update Netflix account information
How to change your Netflix password
Netflix • 1:05 PM
Chat with an agent
1:06 PM
N
Got it, thanks.
N
Before chatting, can you sign in?
Netflix • 1:06 PM
No
1:06 PM
N
OK, someone will be with you shortly.
Netflix • 1:06 PM
You are now chatting with: Louise Angel
L
Thanks for contacting Netflix. I am Louise, your personal assistant today. How do you do and how can i help you today? 🙂
Louise Angel • 1:06 PM
Hi Louise, I have two homes and spend almost equal time in each. I have always had 1 NFlix account and pay for multiple user streaming. I am not about to sign up for a new account. How am I now to deal with this issue of your changing situations.?
1:07 PM
L
It doesn’t mean that you will be blocked or you need to buy an extra member slot every time you use your Netflix account outside the Primary Location. ONLY if there’s a “persistent use” and there are “other devices” involved. When we say other devices, it means those devices has no record being connected to the Wifi network of the Primary location.
Louise Angel • 1:09 PM
Well that will cause an issue. I have 2 houses, both located in Spain. Each house has its own WIFI and smart TVs. So per your comment the devices at each house has no record of being connected with the other house’s WIFI.
1:10 PM
L
If you’re just at a friend’s house or you’ll travel only for few days or few weeks, you can still use your account without any issues. You will not have any issues using your account in a different location as long as the device(s) you will use was connected to the Wifi network of the Primary location within 31 DAYS. That’s what we called the “Trusted Devices”. Trusted device is a device that is connected to the Wi-Fi network of the primary location at least once every 31 days. When you’re away from the primary location, you can watch Netflix using your Trusted Devices without being blocked.
Louise Angel • 1:11 PM
That does not respond to my problem. Your example applies to my using my Laptop to watch NFlix. This is a situation in which I have 2 homes. 1 is in the City and the other is used on weekends, summers and holidays. Both homes have their own INDEPENDENT WIFI systems with different ISPs. Both homes have their own INDEPENDENT smart TVs. There is no way to carry the TV in 1 home to install it in the other. This is rediculous.
1:14 PM
L
For example, there is a second home which is far away from the Primary location where you share your Netflix account. The system will detect “persistent use of other devices” outside of the Primary Location, so those devices will be blocked from using the account. That is the time you will need to buy an Extra Member slot, so your account can be used on that location.
Louise Angel • 1:14 PM
That makes no sense. Your concern is that there are multiple people using the same NFlix account (e.g. I am giving my Password to my neighbor). If you will insist that I must pay more to watch my own personal NFlix account at a different home that I own and live at, then I will l drop my subscription.
1:17 PM
New message
Close
End Chat?
The goal of this feature is to protect your account for any unauthorize access or usage on your account without your permission.
L
Imagine, before we have this – many users are having issue where their account is being used on a location which they didnt not recognize or authorized.
Louise Angel • 1:17 PM
That is a security issue. That can be resolved easily – for example – by sending an alert to the user’s phone and the user confirming it is a legitimate connection.
This rule will help subscriber to only authorized the device where the account will be used. So if someone get a hold of your account and try to use it, they will be blocked.
Louise Angel • 1:19 PM
Your response makes no sense. You apparently did not read my reply above.
1:20 PM
L
Well, for now that is the feature we have. Rest assured that your feedback for account added security will be noted for future product improvement.
Louise Angel • 1:20 PM
If it is a SECURITY issue about unauthorized use, it can be easily solved by having NFlix send a message to the account holder. If the account holder responds that it is authorized there is no security issue.
This is the same way that my bank does it if I sign into my account from a new device.
I’ve taken a note of your feedback to let our Team knows about your insight and make sure it will be heard and not fall into deaf ears. We really appreciate that you took time out of your day to let us know how you feel about that. By partnering with customers like yourself, we will continue to grow.
L
Do you have any clarifications or questions to this?
Louise Angel • 1:24 PM
Well if you insist on this process you will lose me as a customer. I have also been a long-term user (starting in California when you sent out CDs in the mail). It is a huge example of poorly thought out service.
I do understand and we will sure to pass on your feedback for this feature here.
L
First may i have the email address of the account?
Louise Angel • 1:25 PM
P####@######
1:2
Thanks! let me just pull up the account real quick.
L
Just a reminder, Please avoid pressing the back (◀) or closing/leaving (❌) this chat window so that we won’t get disconnected. Please be reminded that it is also important to respond in a timely manner so we can proceed to the next steps here
Louise Angel • 1:26 PM
Louise Angel • 1:26 PM
are you there?
1:28 PM
L
I just pulled up the account.
L
I have now taken your feedback for the feature here. it will be heard and not fall into deaf ears. We really appreciate that you took time out of your day to let us know how you feel about that.
L
To make sure that we covered all of your concerns, I want to ask you, is there anything else you have in mind I can assist you with?
Louise Angel • 1:29 PM
What was the purpose of viewing my account?
1:29 PM
L
This is for documentation purposes and to also let Netflix know that you have made your feedback for the feature
Is it time yet?
Even HBO and discovery+ are available on Amazon as subscription channels. Is it time yet for Netflix to do so as well?
Maybe it’s past time? Maybe it’s too late.