Only 8% Of Netflix Password Moochers Plan To Pay For Their Own Subscription

Predictions

from the this-could-backfire dept

Netflix’s new password sharing crackdown is a dumb cash grab. It’s unnecessary, confusing, risks annoying subscribers, duplicates existing monetization efforts (Netflix already forces you to pay for higher tiers of service if you want simultaneous streams), contradicts years of Netflix’s stated position on the issue, comes on the heels of other price hikes, and the company’s projections of how much money it stands to make don’t appear rooted in reality.

Netflix’s plan, as it currently stands, is to try and force people using somebody else’s password to either pony up money for their own account, or force the original account holder to pay $8 extra per moocher. But a survey from the folks over at CordCutting suggests that only eight percent of those folks using somebody else’s password plan to pay for their own service:

Just 8% of these unauthorized Netflix users plan to pay for their own accounts now that Netflix has cracked down on password sharing. This could lead to an additional 1.7 million paid users. The rest say they will attempt to keep mooching or just stop watching Netflix.

So many of these folks sharing a password are kids or students, or just not serious enough about watching Netflix to buy their own account, and inventing entire systems to bully them about it seems counterproductive. But the study also found that as many as 23 percent (15.2 million people) could quit Netflix over the company’s password sharing crackdown:

The rule changes could also backfire on Netflix, at least in the short term. While the majority plan to keep their subscriptions, 23% of paying users say they’d like to cancel their accounts in response to the new policies. That’s as many as 15.2 million people who could cancel their Netflix subscriptions.

It should be made clear that despite what press outlets are saying, I’ve seen no evidence that Netflix is actually cracking down yet. They mostly appear to be seasoning the water and getting users ready for the possibility they’ll be charged extra. It’s still possible for Netflix to back down, or for this to go so sideways technically forcing a tactical retreat (similar efforts in South America have been a hot mess).

Now again, I don’t think this whole effort will be at all fatal for Netflix. The service still provides a decent value proposition, especially when compared to traditional cable. But the fact that Netflix was surprised when nearly one million users in Spain cancelled the service over the password sharing crackdown suggests they’re being willfully oblivious about its potential impact.

Also, the password sharing efforts is just one part in a growing mountain of evidence that Netflix just isn’t the innovative, consumer friendly company it used to be, which will continue to manifest on other fronts.

That became obvious when the company discarded its policies on net neutrality once it was big and successful enough to not longer be impacted. And it’s gotten worse as the company has shifted its focus away from innovation, disruption, and creativity, and toward shoveling out high volume dreck aimed at the lowest common denominator.

Netflix will soldier on, but it’s going to piss off a lot more users than it thinks. And it’s giving a competitors a chance to gain market share simply by being less annoying.

Filed Under: cable tv, password sharing, price hikes, streaming, video
Companies: netflix

Netflix’s Dumb Password Sharing Crackdown Will Cost You $8 Per Moocher

Overhype

from the big-fat-cash-grab dept

We’ve noted more than a few times that Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is a dumb cash grab, and illustrative of the company’s inevitable transition from innovative disruptor to the type of nickel-and-diming cable company Netflix originally disrupted.

We’ve also noted how the company was forced to delay the effort a few times, after backlash in countries like Spain resulted in it losing a million subscribers — far greater than executives expected.

Undaunted, Netflix this week started turning up the heat on users in preparation of the crackdown, penning a blog post that notes that once active, users will have to pay an extra $8 per person currently sharing your password. Netflix remains a little vague about how they’ll single out these dastardly culprits:

We use information such as IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity to determine whether a device signed into your account is part of your Netflix Household. 

We do not collect GPS data to try to determine the precise physical location of your devices.

Contrary to many press outlets, Netflix isn’t enforcing this yet. They’re simply dipping a toe in the water and getting users used to the idea. I’d expect that if backlash is excessive, it’s still entirely possible they back off the idea.

As we’ve noted previously, this genuinely is Netflix being greedy. The company, for years, actively encouraged password sharing, insisting it was no big deal. It also already monetizes extra users per account by limiting the total number of simultaneous streams per login. Want more streams, you already need to upgrade to a more expensive plan.

Then there’s just the risk that Netflix will annoy cost-conscious customers at a time when streaming competition is soaring, imposing cumbersome new limits on the heels of already unpopular flat rate price hikes.

We’ve also noted how the folks advising on how much money they’ll potentially make on this crackdown aren’t really based in reality. The kind of folks that share Netflix password (students, that friend who only watches TV occasionally) aren’t likely to sign up for their own accounts. Younger Americans are increasingly preferring YouTube and TikTok.

This is all assuming that Netflix pulls this off without screwing things up. That hasn’t been the case in the countries Netflix used as guinea pigs to test tech and messaging.

To be clear I don’t think the move will be particularly fatal. A lot of folks still see significant value in the Netflix cost equation, especially when compared to cable TV. But I do think it’s another link in a chain of evidence (like when Netflix gave up on supporting net neutrality when it became wealthy and big enough that it not longer worried them) showcasing that this company is running out of ideas.

Much like it did when Netflix disrupted Comcast, Netflix’s decision to nickel-and-dime its users with punitive, confusing restrictions and fees opens the door for other, more flexible companies to gain inroads simply by being less annoying.

Filed Under: cable tv, competition, media, password sharing, password sharing crackdown, streaming, video
Companies: netflix

Worried About Backlash, Netflix Delays Password Sharing Crackdown In U.S.

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the charge-you-more-money-for-a-worse-product dept

We’ve noted more than a few times that Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is a dumb cash grab, and illustrative of the company’s inevitable transition from innovative disruptor to the type of nickel-and-diming cable company Netflix originally disrupted.

Netflix’s biggest innovation in the last five years is this new plan to sock you with a $2-3 extra surcharge if they determine you’re sharing your password with someone outside of your home.

Netflix originally tried to use developing nations as guinea pigs for its new plan. It didn’t go well. In many of these countries, users found the restrictions cost restrictive, poorly managed, and confusing. In Spain, the move recently resulted in the company losing more than a million subscribers. This apparently shocked company executives, who now say they’re delaying implementation of the plan in the U.S.:

The company said it delayed its password-sharing crackdown to give it time to learn which approach was best for members and its business. As a result, the revenue from the change is now expected to come in toward the second half of the year, according to the people familiar with the matter. 

The best approach is to back off the plan entirely. There’s evidence that the company’s projections for how much money it can make off of annoying its customers aren’t based in reality, and that the defections could be higher than company projections. All to implement a fix to a problem that isn’t technically a real problem in the first place.

Netflix spent years encouraging password sharing as no big deal. Netflix also already consistently raises rates on its users. And the company already monetizes the thing it’s suddenly insisting is a huge problem by limiting the number of simultaneous streams per account (and nudging users to more expensive tiers if they want to stream numerous shows concurrently via the same account).

Netflix is correct to worry that imposing annoying new restrictions and surcharges could cause a notable exodus in a streaming market that’s increasingly competitive. But I’d wager the pressure to deliver improved quarterly returns to Wall Street at any cost (even if that means angering loyal users or tarnishing the brand longer term) will once again dictate all future momentum.

Filed Under: cable tv, disruption, password sharing, passwords, streaming, video
Companies: netflix

Netflix Loses A Million Subscribers In Spain After Greedy Password Sharing Crackdown

Failures

from the from-innovative-disruptor-to-ordinary-bore dept

We’ve noted repeatedly how Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is a stupid cash grab that alienates and annoys loyal customers, duplicates existing efforts to restrict “freeloaders,” won’t give the company the financial windfall it thinks, and just generally represents how the company has inevitably shifted from innovative disruptor to the kind of tone deaf cable giants it used to criticize.

The plan basically involves charging users an extra $2-$3 a month if it’s found that someone is using your account outside of your home. The problem: Netflix has already been imposing blanket price hikes, and it already limits the number of simultaneously streams per account, forcing users to subscribe to more expensive tiers if they want to expand the limit.

While the crackdown isn’t expected to hit U.S. subscribers until the end of the second quarter (aka soon), the effort has generally been a hot mess in the smaller countries Netflix first used as guinea pigs to test both the underlying tech and company messaging.

The company had to suspend the efforts in countries like Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic, after users were equal parts befuddled and annoyed. And in Spain, estimates are that the company saw a defection of more than one million subscribers largely due to the higher, unnecessary fees:

“There are of course inherent risks with clamping down on password sharing, particularly when back in 2017 Netflix was seen to be actively encouraging it. Some users were expected to be lost in the process but losing over 1 million users in a little over a month has major implications for Netflix and whether it decides to continue with its crackdown globally.

Interestingly, there is no strong demographic skew to those who cancelled, signaling a more outright rejection of the password sharing clampdown. In a worrying sign for the next quarter, 10% of remaining Netflix subscribers say they plan to cancel their plan in Q2 2023, which is well above the average seen in previous quarters.”

It’s just blanketly stupid to impose annoying and costly new restrictions at a time when streaming competition has become more heated than ever. Netflix’s competitors can now simply gain a competitive advantage by being less confusing and annoying on pricing and account restrictions.

I don’t expect it to be fatal, but it sure as hell won’t help the company maintain leadership in an increasingly competitive and crowded field. Meanwhile, some analysts say Netflix’s predictions that it will be a boon for revenues simply aren’t based in reality:

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.

But it’s also just another example of Netflix’s pivot from disruptive innovative to just another powerful corporation primarily interested in nickel-and-diming its existing customer base in a bid to please Wall Street’s insatiable need for improved quarterly returns at any cost. It doesn’t matter to many myopic investors if you’re sabotaging longer term product quality and company reputation.

This inevitable pivot was first made fairly obvious when the company began waffling on issues like net neutrality in 2018, and is all the more evident now. Much like big cable companies like Charter, Netflix — a company that spent years openly advocating for password sharing — now wants to pretend password sharing is some unethical financial nightmare, when that’s simply never been the case.

Filed Under: cable tv, competition, password sharing, streaming, tv, video
Companies: netflix

After Backlash From Its Dumb Password Sharing Crackdown, Netflix Lowers Prices In 100 Countries (Just Not In The U.S.)

Overhype

from the play-stupid-games-win-stupid-prizes dept

So we’ve noted more than a few times that Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is a dumb cash grab. The company had already raised prices, it had already monetized the thing it was worried about (it already charges you extra if you want more simultaneous streams), and its hard 180 from encouraging password sharing to demonizing it turned off users just as streaming competition heated up.

Not too surprisingly, customers haven’t responded well to being nickel-and-dimed by a company whose service quality has taken a bit of a dive, and have threatened to unsubscribe en masse. I’ve not yet seen evidence they actually are yet, but Netflix is clearly worried that they’re about to.

The company announced late last week it would be dropping prices in over 100 countries as it tries to fend off streaming competitors:

Netflix, facing more competition globally in the streaming wars, has cut pricing in more than 100 markets worldwide — in some cases, chopping the price of monthly plans in half — to boost subscriber acquisition and retention.

Netflix first tested its dumb password sharing crackdown in many of these markets to disastrous effect. The idea wasn’t implemented particularly well, leaving many customers confused. Netflix itself admits that these confused and annoyed customers are likely keen on jumping over to streaming companies that won’t punish them for a practice the industry itself spent a decade actively encouraging.

Netflix’s estimates on how much money this password sharing crackdown will make them don’t appear based in reality. As Netflix has gotten larger and more powerful, you can see it behaving more and more like the MPA, Comcast, and other data cherry-picking industry giants, a stark contrast from its origins as a company that fought on the right side of issues like net neutrality.

That said, I still think most Netflix users will tend to stick around for now, given most consumers are lazy, and the value proposition of a service like Netflix remains better (for now) than traditional, bloated and costly cable TV bundles.

Still, the company’s stark personality shift, from disruptive innovator that actually cared about healthy markets, to another nickel-and-diming cable TV provider, is notable and not going anywhere soon. There will be more dumb decisions to come as Netflix fixates exclusively on feeding Wall Street’s insatiable desire for improved quarterly returns at any cost; a one-time innovator doomed to be disrupted.

Filed Under: cable tv, competition, disruption, netflix, password sharing, streaming, video
Companies: netflix

Netflix’s Unnecessary Password Crackdown Is Already A Hot Mess

Failures

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

Netflix’s Password Sharing Cash Grab Finally Arrives In The States

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the slowly-but-surely-becoming-Comcast dept

After years of saying password sharing wasn’t really a big deal and was akin to free advertising, Netflix recently announced it would be cracking down on password sharing. It started with a new trial in the global south where users were nagged until they paid an additional fee if they shared their password with users outside of their home.

Now, those efforts are poised to finally arrive in the U.S. in March according to the Netflix website. Company co-CEO Greg Peters acknowledged on a conference call that the move isn’t likely to be popular with consumers, who’ve already been faced with several instances of flat price hikes:

“This will not be a universally popular move, so there will be current members that are unhappy with this move. We’ll see a bit of a cancel reaction to that,” Greg Peters, Neflix’s recently promoted co-CEO, told investors on a call last week.

There are numerous problems here.

One, Netflix spent years conditioning its users to believe that password sharing was not only good, but encouraged. Two, Netflix just got done imposing numerous price hikes on existing customers, while service quality has, for many, notably deteriorated. Three, Netflix already technically charges its users more money to increase the number of allowed simultaneous streams per account.

Four, the company’s implementation of the password sharing crackdown in the global South has so far been a confusing mess. Five, the company is making its service more expensive and annoying at a time when its facing increased competition. Six, the folks (like Adobe) promising Netflix a big boost in income from the move don’t appear to be basing their projections on reality.

It’s certainly not going to be the end of Netflix if it begins increasingly nickel-and-diming its customers with additional surcharges (just like the cable giants it once disrupted), but it’s certainly not going to meaningfully help a company that’s facing increased competition from a rotating crop of streaming services which can now differentiate themselves by… not being annoying.

Netflix clearly transitioned from innovative market disruptor to turf protection in the last few years, and in the process it’s slowly but surely turning into Comcast. And it’s doing it because the company’s global growth has become saturated, and Wall Street demands its quarter over quarter growth at any cost. That cost, as usual, is going to be paid by the end user, whether they like it or not.

And if they don’t like it, they’re going to shift over to a growing number of alternative streaming services (including free ones like TikTok) that don’t nag the hell out of you because your friends or kids never wanted to pay for a subscription in the first place.

Filed Under: alternatives, cable tv, competition, concurrent streams, password sharing, streaming, video
Companies: netflix

Ad-Based Netflix Arrives With A Thud

Overhype

from the this-ain't-it,-boss dept

As a publicly traded company, it’s simply not good enough to provide an affordable service that people genuinely like. The pressure to deliver quarter over quarter growth often takes on a tendency toward auto-cannibalism; price hikes, customer support cuts, dumb ideas justified through greed, all designed to goose short-term growth, but often at the cost of brand reputation and long term service quality.

That’s the metamorphosis currently underway at Netflix.

After years of explosive growth, the company lost nearly a million subscribers between April and July. In part due to new competition in streaming, but also because Netflix executives are stuck in this auto-cannibalism loop; sacrificing what’s popular about the service (affordability, no ads, few weird restrictions, decent content) to feed Wall Street’s insatiable maw.

Instead of focusing on service quality and not being annoying, Netflix executives spent much of the last year insisting that a ham-fisted crackdown on password sharing and a new ad-based tier would fix what ails the company. But right out of the gate, Netflix’s new $7 “Basic With Ads” tier was saddled with all manner of annoying restrictions that undermined its entire purpose.

Ad-based customers can’t stream in standard HD (all streams are restricted to 720p), can’t stream to more than one device simultaneously, can’t download films to watch on a plane, and see a 10% smaller catalog overall due to licensing constraints. The ad-based tier also wasn’t initially supported on a number of different hardware platforms, including Apple TV or older Chromecast devices.

Shockingly, this all resulted in the new ad-based tier being the least popular option in its first month of life:

Subscription data analytics firm Antenna shared their data with Gizmodo where it noted that just 9% of all new Netflix subscribers opted for the Netflix Basic With Ads Tier last month. The $6.99 a month service launched Nov. 3 in the U.S., but Antenna told the Wall Street Journal over half of those ad-based sign ups were people re-upping their subscription after it lapsed or were joining for the first time.

The hope is to get people hooked on a cheaper tier, then upsell them through annoyance to more expensive, less restrictive tiers. That’s basically the upward funnel model the traditional TV sector adopted for decades, working tirelessly to push customers to higher priced tiers or bundles by annoying the hell out of them, since you don’t actually want users staying on the cheapest option possible.

A cheaper ad-based tier doesn’t really fix what ails Netflix because it’s not actually fixing what customers are getting annoyed by. Wall Street doesn’t want to embrace any of the things customers actually want (lower prices, improved service quality, fewer obnoxious restrictions) so you get stuff like this designed to look creative and appealing but isn’t, actually. It’s the inversion of actual innovation.

Stuck under Wall Street’s thumb, Netflix seems intent on reducing quality while nickel-and-diming existing customers, which won’t work in a hyper-competitive streaming space where consumers actually have the choice of competitors that are still actually focused on quality, affordability, decent support, and customer satisfaction.

Filed Under: ad-free-tier, advertising, cable tv, competition, password sharing, prices, streaming, video
Companies: netflix

UK IP Office Tries To Claim Netflix Password Sharing Is Illegal

Copyright

from the password-sharing-is-the-devil dept

The UK Government’s Intellectual Property Office published new piracy guidance this week claiming that Netflix password sharing is illegal.

Back when Netflix was a pesky upstart trying to claw subscribers away from entrenched cable providers, the company had a pretty lax approach to users who shared streaming passwords. At one point CEO Reed Hastings went so far as to say he “loved” password sharing, seeing it as akin to free advertising. The idea was that as kids or friends got on more stable footing (left home to job hunt, whatever), they’d inevitably get hooked on the service and purchase their own subscription.

But as Netflix subscription numbers have begun to go south and competitors are challenging Netflix’s market share and revenue, the company is predictably taking a harder stance on the practice. That has involved nickel-and-diming paying subscribers to pay more money, but it also apparently involves urging governments to conflate password sharing with piracy.

On cue, the UK’s new piracy guidance does exactly that:

“There are a range of provisions in criminal and civil law which may be applicable in the case of password sharing where the intent is to allow a user to access copyright-protected works without payment. These provisions may include breach of contractual terms, fraud or secondary copyright infringement, depending on the circumstances. Where these provisions are provided in civil law, it would be up to the service provider to take action through the courts if required.”

Shortly after the UK government issued the guidance it backtracked without explanation. I’d assume that’s only temporary, as this campaign to demonize password sharing is ramping up across most of Netflix’s territories. When contacted by the BBC, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) didn’t rule out prosecuting folks for password sharing, though a police investigation would be needed first:

“Any decision to charge someone for sharing passwords for streaming services would be looked at on a case-by-case basis, with due consideration of the individual context and facts of each case. As with all cases, if they are referred to the CPS by an investigator for a charging decision, our duty is to bring prosecutions where there is sufficient evidence to do so and when a prosecution is required in the public interest.”

This is, as is most of the hand-wringing about password sharing, dumb. Here’s the thing: corporations like Netflix and HBO spent the better part of a decade normalizing and encouraging password sharing. They adored it.

Now that they’re facing greater competition and tighter margins, they want to pivot on a dime and blame password sharing for most of their problems. And they want the government to help them. Apparently by pretending that loaning your credentials to a friend or your college kid is downright villainous, and by comically overstating the financial impact password sharing is having on their bottom lines.

Netflix already imposes routine price hikes. And it already technically monetizes password sharing by limiting the number of simultaneous streams per account, charging you more money if you want more simultaneous streams. As such the password sharing crackdown is a nickel-and-diming effort from a company that’s trying to make up for subscriber losses by soaking the customers that remain.

If you’re noticing a lot of egomania, fuzzy numbers, and wishful thinking on Netflix’s part, that’s because as Netflix grew and shifted from innovation to turf protection, it joined the Motion Picture Association and adopted much of the broader cable, broadcast, and entertainment industry’s (sometimes facts-optional) rhetoric surrounding the diabolical menace that is password sharing.

I’d imagine there will be plenty more facts-optional hyperventilation on this subject in the new year, both in the US and UK, as streaming giants get government officials all hot and bothered.

Filed Under: cable tv, copyright, password sharing, piracy, streaming, uk, uk ipo, video
Companies: netflix

Dumb Netflix Password Sharing Crackdown Will Arrive In US Early Next Year

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the meet-the-new-boss... dept

Undaunted by criticism that its plan is little more than a Comcast-esque cash grab, Netflix executives say they’re moving full speed ahead with a plan to begin cracking down on password sharing, a practice executives spent years previously encouraging.

In a letter to shareholders, Netflix said it would be bringing its password sharing crackdown to the US early next year, after having spent much of this year using Central and South American Netflix users as messaging test subjects:

“We’ve landed on a thoughtful approach to monetize account sharing and we’ll begin rolling this out more broadly starting in early 2023. After listening to consumer feedback, we are going to offer the ability for borrowers to transfer their Netflix profile into their own account, and for sharers to manage their devices more easily and to create subaccounts (“extra member”), if they want to pay for family or friends.”

Under the program, Netflix will scan user accounts for users who use the service outside of the core subscription home, then charging the original account holder between $3.50 and $4.00 per month extra if those users don’t sign up for service on their own. Netflix is still being cagey about precisely what technical monitoring they’ll be using to confirm passwords are being shared outside the home.

Netflix had been testing the crackdown in markets like Peru and Argentina. It hasn’t gone particularly well; enforcement has been a bit of a mess, and incoherent messaging has confused users already facing tighter budgets thanks to global inflation.

As we’ve noted a few times, this is generally just a dumb cash grab by a company worried about soaring competition and sagging subscription totals. Netflix already recently imposed a general price hike on all users, and the company already monetizes these extra users by limiting the total number of concurrent streams per account, charging you more money if you want more simultaneous streams.

We’ve also noted how once Netflix joined the MPA, it began exhibiting a lot of the same character flaws as the organization. Like claiming that password sharing was a form of “piracy.” Or throwing around a lot of dubious numbers on how much money they’ll make with a crackdown (despite there being no solid evidence that harassed users won’t just switch to a Netflix competitor or go watch TikTok instead).

Netflix used to adore password sharing, back when it was trying to gain market share. Now that it’s a big dog facing an army of new competition but still trying to deliver quarterly-returns-at-any-cost to Wall Street, it’s exhibiting all the same character flaws as companies like Comcast. Namely a shift in focus away from disruption and quality, and toward nickel-and-diming its existing subscriber base.

Surely that will go differently from the last fifty times entrenched giants employed the same tactic, right?

Filed Under: competition, password sharing, piracy, streaming, tv, video
Companies: netflix