Netflix Testing Add-On Payment for People Who Share Accounts Outside Their Households

[SpotOnT]

? I voted, had car insurance and had a driver license in college registered to my school PO box.

Yes, there are some exceptions, depending on the school and the local government. For the most part though, legislative changes after 9/11 require an ID to be based on a physical residence, rather than a mailing box. Similarly, legislative changes after the 2008 financial meltdown has resulted in similar requirements for financial institutions (credit cards/bank accounts) etc.

There definitely are still some exceptions to both, but it is not the current norm.

 

[deeddawg]

Maybe maybe not. For example, if you have kids that normally live with you, but are now off at college temporarily, I’d consider the kids part of the household.

Yep. Dependent children are inarguably part of the “household”.

Don’t know why people are flagellating over definitions. It’s pretty clear that people whose home is with you are part of your household. Furthermore that household is not locked to a single address. Your spouse and children don’t cease to be part of your household just because they go on a trip, or because your family have a weekend cabin in the mountains.

 

[Ankaa]

And it will be abundantly clear that someone who is packing up their Apple TV, laptop, iPad, etc and signing in to the same device in multiple states is actually traveling around and not just sharing a password with grandma. How dumb do you think these algorithms are?

Yeah, because there's obviously NO WAY the rest of the family stays behind and has a second Apple TV or Laptop and wants to watch some Netflix while daddy is gone earning some bucks.

Netflix is not loosing out on revenue from sharing your password with grandma as I can absolutely guarantee you that 9/10 times grandma wouldn't have signed up for Netflix on her own to begin with. That argument is just compeltely detached from real life - and is quite frankly arrogant on the company's part assuming that they're so important that people can't live without their service.

There's a lot of things in my life I cannot or do not want to live without. Netflix most certainly isn't one of them.

I have yet to see a reasonable argument of why it actually matters where the 5 people physically are when you already pay extra for simultaneous screening. Other than "because they can". Creating artifical constraints that have zero real life significance just to make money off people. And just because they can. Capitalistic poster children.

Here's what I think is happening with those of you who are actually in favor or claim to understand/agree with Netflix.

So you're green because you think you're being treated unfairly by having to pay more than others. When realistically you're not. You pay the 'norm' asked from Netflix. Others pay less. And why exactly do you care? We're talking about a multibillion dollar company here. They're not loosing out on revenue because again, those who currently get shared password access most likely wouldn't sign up for their own account - or pay these fees. It's not worth it to them; if it was, they'd have their own account to begin with.

And for the record: I'm paying my own Netflix subscription.

 

[PirateToSaveYourCash]

Honestly, I love seeing Netflix doing this, and to see people complaining.

The more people are switching to torrent, the better. Netflix monopoly has to be damaged badly from their choices. I'd rather pay a seedbox 10 bucks a month or purchase the hardware to do it by myself rather than dumping cash into Netflix.

Keep seeding guys!

 

[ian87w]

So what would Netflix do if I have the higher tier account, and I'm travelling and want to watch Netflix on my laptop? Meanwhile in my house, my family members still want to watch Netflix. So what, I have to pay extra just to use my account features that I already paid for?

 

[popdan]

we are happy to switch to download from torrent if that's what you want?

 

[scrapesleon]

Add on must be losing revenue lol

 

[ian87w]

we are happy to switch to download from torrent if that's what you want?

You don't even need torrent. Plenty of public groups in telegram offering these pirated streamed contents.

 

[AppleTO]

I don’t see how this could ever work. There are just too many ways people of even the same household could have different public IPs.

Hotspot your phone to any device and it’ll have a different public IP, even in the exact same location.

 

[erinsarah]

Are you hung up on the concept that a dorm isn’t called a house?

No, like me they’re hung up on the idea of having a kid in college that s unable to use mom and dad’s account Because the kid is not in the house

 

[lysingur]

What’s the point of having subscribers if none of them are paying?

They really aren't "subscribers" if they aren't paying, are they?

 

[c84216]

Implementing something like this would prevent prices from being raised, it's because everyone is sharing their password that their price is getting so high. I personally would love for Netflix to be cheaper with no way to password share. Rather than continuing to pay high prices to make up for all people who are too cheap to get their own account.

1) I've never shared my password to any streaming service I've used. Ever.
2) I am paying $20 a month for a service to get content that I am not watching because of the decrease in quality in a format that looks best on my TV. That plan, which comes with 4 profiles, sees one profile used. Ergo
3) Since I am paying an outrageous sum of money for 4 profiles, I should get the full benefit of use of those 4 profiles.

My decision to cancel was to say, with my dollars:

1) Too expensive (the price JUST went up)
2) Too mediocre (seriously, what's on there worth watching?)
3) Too inflexible in plans (4K 1 user plan at $14 a month I might boogey with).

 

[abhibeckert]

simple same IP address

So if I leave the house and want to watch on my cellular connection, now I have to pay extra?

I don't think this will be simple at all.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I'm pretty sure they have data to know that you have a household with like two adults, a teenager, and a younger sibling, and what they're really going after is the accounts where there are five people who are all watching the same things or two of them are watching things that are made for multiple demographics, which is the actual red flag that it's someone sharing their account with multiple hoseholds.

 

[ian87w]

I don’t see how this could ever work. There are just too many ways people of even the same household could have different public IPs.

Hotspot your phone to any device and it’ll have a different public IP, even in the exact same location.

One way is to monitor the prevalence of new devices, and put a threshold. Eg. Having one or two new devices connected to the account every few months probably shouldn’t trigger anything, but if there are dozens of new devices using the account every week should trigger it. Something like that. Of course, there will always be false positives, and Netflix the must consider the policy if there are complaints from false positives.

 

[cosmichobo]

And Netflix becomes even less popular...

This wont impact me, but the regular price rises have just about put a nail in Netflix.

My wife's siblings all share their Netflix accounts with a bunch of people, related or not, in other households. So - I can appreciate why Netflix wants to stop it. Or at least - profit from it.

But their prices in general now are just too high I feel...

 

[ian87w]

And Netflix becomes even less popular...

This wont impact me, but the regular price rises have just about put a nail in Netflix.

My wife's siblings all share their Netflix accounts with a bunch of people, related or not, in other households. So - I can appreciate why Netflix wants to stop it. Or at least - profit from it.

But their prices in general now are just too high I feel...

I think Netflix created the situation to begin with that nudged people to share account. Eg. Forcing people to the highest tier just to enjoy 4K. Since that tier also allows multiple concurrent streams, it’s normal for people to find a way to share the cost.

I’m interested what would happen if Netflix just allow all tiers to have 4K. The only difference between tiers would be the number of concurrent streams. I’m sure that way, many people would just get the cheapest single account, and such they are much less likely to share as it’s only good for one stream. But people can enjoy 4K.

As such I’d argue that Netflix being greedy, wanting people to pay more than what they needed, is the root of the problem.

 

[lysingur]

I know it's a matter of opinions but I would disagree. Netflix being the first major streaming platform was HUGE for them. It was the big major new thing, even when it was primarily DVDs by mail, and from back then even if they implemented something that blocked password sharing I still think they would've gotten around the number of subscribers that they did, possibly more. I think there would've been a ton of people with the thought "well if I can't use my friend's password, I'll fork over the $6 a month (or whatever the price was at that time) because I want this service" because it was such an in demand service. But I understand that that's anyones guess.

Consumers behave opportunistically in most cases. There are so many streaming services out there that those who watch Netlfix through password sharing will simply stop watching if it's disallowed.
Netflix, unlike Apple, needs to put up with "freeloaders" because their sole revenue comes from subscription fees and they need hype and word of mouth to build that hype around a new show to maintain interests and keep existing subscribers around. People tend to watch shows that people they know watch. Once these "freeloaders" get the boot, Netflix loses a little bit of that aura of being "Netflix". They would become just like any other streaming service.
I can see them getting outcompeted by Prime Video or Disney+ in a couple of years if they keep hiking prices and taking away perks like this.

 

[ddhhddhh2]

In fact, when I heard that Netflix was going to implement this policy, I think it was last year, it didn't take long for me to unsubscribe. Although they were keeping this PR crisis on the down low, I knew they were going to implement it, and it was, in my opinion, extremely unreasonable, and I refused to pay anything. It was a robbery.

I don't live with my mom, so she's not my family by Netflix's definition. And once Netflix officially implements this policy, it will be hard for me to explain to my mom why "she" needs to pay. In addition, I have always been happy to share my payment resources with my two brothers, but only because my brothers do not live with me, they are not my family by Netflix's definition.

So I have a slogan for Netflix about this policy: Subscribe to Netflix and redefine your family!

 

[d5aqoëp]

"alienate people for paying for their service" .... They aren't alienating people for paying for their service. That's what they want. People to pay for their service. What they don't want is, Mom and Dad in Florida paying for the service sharing their password to son in Wisconsin and Daughter in California. Daughter in California sharing the password to Grandson in college in North Dakota.

Netflix CEO spotted.

 

[jarman92]

Implementing something like this would prevent prices from being raised, it's because everyone is sharing their password that their price is getting so high. I personally would love for Netflix to be cheaper with no way to password share. Rather than continuing to pay high prices to make up for all people who are too cheap to get their own account.

Lol yeah I’m sure they’ll drop the price if/when they implement this ?

 

[vipergts2207]

What’s the point of having subscribers if none of them are paying?

“The company's annual revenue in 2021 amounted to almost 30 billion U.S. dollars, continuing the impressive year-on-year growth Netflix has enjoyed over the last decade.”

Netflix: quarterly revenue 2024| Statista

How much does Netflix make quarterly? In Q3 2024, Netflix's revenue was about 9.8 billion USD, up from the revenue in Q3 2023.

www.statista.com

Yup, definitely no subscribers paying.

I know it's a matter of opinions but I would disagree. Netflix being the first major streaming platform was HUGE for them. It was the big major new thing, even when it was primarily DVDs by mail, and from back then even if they implemented something that blocked password sharing I still think they would've gotten around the number of subscribers that they did, possibly more. I think there would've been a ton of people with the thought "well if I can't use my friend's password, I'll fork over the $6 a month (or whatever the price was at that time) because I want this service" because it was such an in demand service. But I understand that that's anyones guess.

Back then the catalog was actually worth the money.

 

[Abazigal]

“The company's annual revenue in 2021 amounted to almost 30 billion U.S. dollars, continuing the impressive year-on-year growth Netflix has enjoyed over the last decade.”

Netflix: quarterly revenue 2024| Statista

How much does Netflix make quarterly? In Q3 2024, Netflix's revenue was about 9.8 billion USD, up from the revenue in Q3 2023.

www.statista.com

Yup, definitely no subscribers paying.

My post was in response to another member claiming that piracy was somehow good for business, not that nobody was paying for Netflix (I am aware of their revenue streams).

 

[ddhhddhh2]

And this policy doesn't explain why Apple's Family Sharing is so 'generous'? Did Apple suffer a loss because of family sharing? Oh no, the real truth is that Netflix has become even greedier.
Otherwise I'd rather see Cook say: Hey, from now on, Family Sharing customers have to pay extra, in search of a greater purpose.

 

[whatgift]

Always amusing when people try and justify their use of torrents - apart from the inconvenience of switching services on and off, the reasoning is pretty sketchy.