r/technology • u/chrisdh79 • Feb 03 '23

Netflix says strict new password sharing rules were posted in error Business

https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/02/03/netflix-says-strict-new-password-sharing-rules-were-posted-in-error
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2.8k

u/r3dk0w Feb 03 '23 • All-Seeing Upvote

They already sell in streams, where the normal package gets 2 streams and the premium package gets 4 streams.

Why do they care that 2 streams are used when that's what the package allows?

If they don't want password sharing, then limit the lower-end package to 1 stream. Then it doesn't matter how much password sharing is going on.

1.9k

u/Wildcard36qs Feb 03 '23

This is what baffles me. I'm paying for 4 streams, who cares where they are used?

913

u/GeT_Tilted Feb 03 '23

They care about growth. They know that their sub numbers will reach a hard limit soon. So they bet on people using other's account may convert into a paying sub when the restrictions go live. They did not expect the public to call for cancellations or piracy so they changed course to appear better in the public's eye.

739

u/RubberReptile Feb 03 '23

Anecdotally, my family shares a Netflix account, and the second that it stops working for my siblings we're cancelling it. Can't be the only ones who feel this way. We've paid for the service for nearly a decade, now.

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u/sarcasatirony Feb 03 '23

Have kids in college and we share 4 streams. Discussed last night that we’re not paying more for the exact service for which we signed and would cancel. Obviously Netflix was listening through the mics on our phones and reacted with this story.

Coincidentally, there’s a new over the counter drug for my ED and I can renew my car’s warranty so I’d call today a win.

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u/NHRADeuce Feb 03 '23

Same here. One kid in college and another about to be. I upgrade to 4 streams specifically to get 4 streams. The minute anyone kne of us is blocked, we're canceling.

51

u/bdone2012 Feb 03 '23

I think Netflix is worth at most 12 bucks a month per household. I’d still cancel personally unless it was maybe 10 bucks a month. If they had wanted to go through with this new plan they would have needed to drop the cost a very significant amount.

I don’t see how they assumed that people would just be cool with the cost more than doubling. It’s laughable. I think most people pay for Netflix and then they share with someone who has hbo max, hulu or Disney. That way you have access to all of them. It’s not worth it otherwise.

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u/Abadayos Feb 04 '23

That’s what we do. We have Netflix and do two and my in-laws have a few of the other subs and we just give the other access so we all have all we want. It works out well and the moment it stops working, the offenders with be purged and we will just carry on without or setting sail for the high seas me hearties

11

u/TwanToni Feb 03 '23

only delaying the inevitable

21

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '23

On his ED? Let the guy enjoy it for a while FFS

;)

3

u/TwanToni Feb 03 '23

lmao I completely missed that part... I would say it's a win for ya man along with his warranty lol

2

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '23

Ride on OP, ride on

3

u/Icy-End8895 Feb 04 '23

Coulda swore mankind was about to get thrown through the hell in a cell

2

u/mekkab Feb 04 '23

I don’t even watch wrestling and I was ready to plunge Netflix through an announcer’s table

2

u/Devium92 Feb 04 '23

I share the account with my parents who often have my young kids for visits. It's easier to share the password so there is continuity of episodes and stuff between houses instead of constantly restarting series for the kids and hunting down episodes based off the description from the 7 year old compared to the actual synopsis of the episode/title of the episode.

We also watch Netflix in a variety of locations within our household, 2 phones, a tablet, 2 computers, Fire Stick, technically we have it on the video game consoles etc. I think we pay for the 4 streams package, but with the news of getting rid of account sharing we are planning on doing away with Netflix, and potentially other streaming services as well.

2

u/Zinraa Feb 04 '23

Actually was on the phone with Netflix 2 weeks ago because my account was hacked by someone in Russia. While recovering my account ( that ended up getting cancelled and remade...enraging, but a story for another thread), they noticed that my account was being used outside my house. I told them that yes, it was. I have children that live in other parts of the country that use it plus a business i use it in. They tried telling me that was not allowed so I informed them that I pay my $20 a month for my 4 streams and as such how I use those streams that I pay for is none of their damn business and if they have a problem with that, they can go ahead and just cancel everything and lose a day 1 client. Needless to say, that conversation changed rather quickly.

1

u/JSuma Feb 04 '23

whats the otc drug called?

6

u/SodOffWithASawedOff Feb 04 '23

The best thing that has worked for me was Yurmombent OTC

1

u/El_Grande_El Feb 04 '23

What’s this new drug called?

1

u/zeugma25 Feb 04 '23

a new over the counter drug for my ED and I can renew my car’s warranty

Your warranty provider has some very specific requirements.

84

u/canrat Feb 03 '23

Agreed! Netflix already has to compete with 10+other streaming services (depending on which market). If all of them let me password share and Netflix doesn’t, why bother keeping Netflix?

4

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '23

The only thing saving them is their occasional original productions that hit squid game etc

24

u/Odd_Conversation1295 Feb 03 '23

It really doesn't anymore though. I, and many others, are tired of them canceling shows that we like. Personally, I know quite a few people that refuse to watch Netflix originals until they have a few seasons finished.

Netflix just hates their customers. I don't even share my account with anybody but I canceled my subscription due to their recent "accidental" announcement. I'll probably renew my Netflix account but I'll only have it active for 1 month a year now.

I'm sick of their shit and I refuse to have an active subscription with them year round anymore like I have had pretty much since their inception.

5

u/sushisection Feb 03 '23

wasting their money on all of those show productions also ironically tanked their company. made them hurt for cash, resulting in what we are seeing now.

3

u/CasablumpkinDilemma Feb 04 '23

My family is this way too. My dad got it for my mom back when it was just DVDs. Now my mom is gone, and he pays for 4 streams just so me, my brother, and my daughter can watch it. He doesn't even use it, himself. If they implement this there's no point in him having it anymore.

3

u/QuickAltTab Feb 04 '23

The only thing that makes it feel "worth" it for some of these streaming subscriptions is that more of my family can use it aside from us. If they can't use it, I'll only subscribe when they have a show I'd want to watch, or maybe if its a big enough pain in the ass, I'll just read more, which is better for me anyway.

3

u/happytrel Feb 04 '23

My family already cancelled, the threat of extra fees on top of how stupid expensive it is anyway was too much. My girlfriend's family is waiting until they see an actual charge to cancel, but will cancel immedietly when they do see one.

Everyone I know who had or has Netflix shares with people and its kinda the point because its not anywhere near as strong as it once was and they cancel all of their originals right as they pick up steam anyway. Its easier to stomach all that as a team.

3

u/scratch_post Feb 04 '23

We also share a Netflix

It will be cancelled the day it interferes with our ability to watch or takes any extra effort to do it.

2

u/Nit3fury Feb 03 '23

Yeeeeep. I’ve been my family’s Netflix provider for about a decade too, I don’t even use it myself, but if shit increases it’s over

2

u/MykelJMoney Feb 04 '23

I’m the one with the account for my family. I really don’t think I’d be sad to give it up if they want to screw the rest of the family over. For starters, I don’t personally use it that much, mostly because I either already own my favorite rewatches, or they’re on different streaming services. I might actually cancel it anyway. Mostly hold onto it for my wife and the rest of the family.

2

u/SenatorRobPortman Feb 04 '23

My siblings and I all split the cost of a bunch of services. Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Amazon, Spotify, Disney+. One family unit pays for one thing and we all share. Coincidentally my wife is a librarian. I am very cool and comfortable with my siblings cancelling any of their subscriptions, and utilizing the dvd section at the library. lol. They get new movies and shows in all the time and it’s for free.

2

u/Joshua__Michael Feb 03 '23

Totally agree. I saw the rules get posted yesterday; and immediately canceled my subscription. I imagine the backlash was much worse than originally Imagined

1

u/Extra-Ad5925 Feb 03 '23

Yep me too we all had a chat about it yesterday. No one watches it enough to re-up

1

u/rarius18 Feb 03 '23

Nope, I will cancel so bad! The moment my family says password stops working - cancelling that shit! I don’t even like Netflix, so much garbage there lately

1

u/coolreg214 Feb 03 '23

My gf is the only one that really watches mine so I’m probably going to cancel my subscription. I mainly watch paramount ant prime, they’re cheaper anyway.

1

u/Arseyoukiddingme Feb 04 '23

There too many other services to rely on Netflix alone.

1

u/DanielleSanders20 Feb 04 '23

My grandma pays for our family account, 5 different households and she had the max screen accounts. She saw this and immediately cancelled all our accounts cause she didn’t quite understand what was happening and said Netflix told her we couldn’t share LOL. So now, only 2 of the 5 households have resubscribed. They went from like $40 to $20 real fast with my family!

1

u/BitcoinOperatedGirl Feb 04 '23

Same, I'm sharing mine with my elderly mom and she uses it more than me. If she can't use it anymore, I'm definitely cancelling... I paid for the premium 4 screen plan, which is a family plan. If I can't share it with one family member, then fuck netflix, their content is subpar anyways.

1

u/SplashBandicoot Feb 04 '23

You don’t think they did the math?

1

u/MimiMyMy Feb 04 '23

We feel the same. As a matter of fact I was just on the phone with my daughter this evening about it. We pay for 2 streams for well over a decade. We have agreed neither one of us will subscribe on our own once they start enforcing whatever it is they are changing.

1

u/The_Dovahpoes Feb 04 '23

Same. My wife and I are the ones paying for four streams that are used by her old parents, my old parents, and my brother. Each of us only have one TV so it works out. I’m return, someone else is paying for Disney, HBO and Amazon Prime.

It’s something SO commonly done by everyone we know that this policy is straight up greed. We’re waiting for this month’s subscription to finish to cancel and switch to Apple TV.

1

u/helf1x Feb 04 '23

Same here. My dad uses my account. Was planning on restarting my Plex server and going back to the high seas if they implemented this.

1

u/blueboxreddress Feb 04 '23

I pay for a premium account as the smallest possible gift to my very hardworking mom and my three adult younger brothers because I can. We’ve all talked about how the second one of us can’t log in it’s time to cancel Netflix and go back to pirating Netflix original content.

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u/roboninja Feb 03 '23

They did not expect the public to call for cancellations or piracy

Then they are not as smart as people like to assume they are.

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u/UrbanGhost114 Feb 03 '23

I have found that just because they make more money, or have a "higher"position, they don't necessarily deserve either. It doesn't make them smarter, it makes them better bullshitters.

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u/No_Flounder_9859 Feb 04 '23

Boycotts are the only things American corporations and Americans really understand. It’s the best, hands down, form of protest. If money controls, stop the flow.

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u/WhyNotJustMakeOne Feb 04 '23

Honestly, this is one of those business decisions that just baffles me. For the simple reason of how easy it is to see coming. Did the executives not do market research before making this call? Or did they know it would be an unpopular decision based on feedback, but underestimated the response? It feels like the classic 'business thinks they know better than their customers do' line of thought.

I always think of a product like the Dragonball Evolution movie: It was an abomination from the perspective of fans, and it failed to even present an entertaining plot for non-fans. Managers, writers, production team... did they ALL really think it was a good idea?

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u/alurkerhere Feb 04 '23 edited Feb 04 '23

I'll tell you exactly what they did. They ran pilots in South America and used results and media mentions to build models to apply to the broad population segments in the US using analytics and data science. The results said a net positive of a certain amount after announcement and then after implementation of said rules in 2 phases.

Ok, so now that the analytics division says it's good (executives asked for this analysis), product managers greenlight the decision with executives and notify engineering and customer service teams. They soft roll it the same way they had pivoted very positively when they announced the split into 2 different services with Qwikster in 2011.

Turns out, maybe the US doesn't correlate so well to South American countries in this instance. Cancellations go up, US media is much more negative towards the move. You recalculate models to incorporate the data and predict bad results at this point. You backtrack at this point without implementing the service, and then figure out if you can roll it out later, or modify the service and plan pilots in other countries.

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u/WhyNotJustMakeOne Feb 04 '23

Wow. I wasn't aware of that background information. That's actually pretty interesting! And strange, from a psychological perspective. I wonder what it is that makes the US public react more negatively that the South American public.

Personally, I haven't sat down and watched TV in like a decade. I torrented a lot in college. It wasn't until COVID hit that I actually got Netflix. My job had me working from home for months, and I liked having documentaries or Great British Bake-Off or murder shows or whatever on my second screen as background noise. There wasn't much else on Netflix that interested me, but my Mom and Sister both used it for a couple of years, so I kept the account. Tried watching their new comedy specials, just wasn't doing it for me. Then all this anti-sharing shit came out. Realized I (and my family) didn't watch it enough to warrant keeping the service so I dropped it.

Really, the whole debacle just seems self-destructive on their part, intentionally removing their greatest selling point. It's like Pizza Hut deciding they will no longer do deliveries/allow UberEats pickups/whatever. The fact it's delivered hot and ready is a big part of the appeal... Just like account sharing is a big part of the appeal for Netflix.

That might be a tortured comparison, but hopefully you get what I mean.

3

u/Arrasor Feb 04 '23

Most people are paid to do a project, whether that project prove successful or not is someone else's problem. Be that managers, writers, production team... all the same. They are paid to realize someone else's vision, as long as that person pay and approve, whatever bullshits go.

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u/WhyNotJustMakeOne Feb 04 '23

That makes sense. I always try to understand people's motivations and thought processes when making weird decisions like this.

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u/Arrasor Feb 04 '23

Think of it like a side project you do that you know you ain't gonna put into your portfolio, purely for some income. When I'm on those, I entertain any and all weird ideas lol.

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u/R3tro956 Feb 03 '23

They have been showing they have no idea how to run the company by green lighting absolute trash, cancelling all the good shows, and pissing off all of their subscribers while the competition runs circles around them

1

u/roninPT Feb 04 '23

"we didn't expect you guys to do the obvious"

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u/TacoNomad Feb 03 '23

That means they need to find other ways to grow. Even if they do this, and somehow increase subscribers more than cancelations long term, they'll hit another wall. And then what? Pay for multiple accounts to use on multiple devices owned by the same user?

They should just work on finding other ways to grow revenue.

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u/AssicusCatticus Feb 03 '23

Or, you know, not expect exponential growth and be happy with the revenue they have. The constant need for more is ridiculous and insupportable.

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u/TacoNomad Feb 03 '23

Capitalism at its finest.

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u/Ratso27 Feb 03 '23

I think this is the answer. Even without the competition, there are a finite number of human beings on Earth who have access to the internet, the money to pay for Netflix, and the desire to do so. At some point you have to either radically alter what you offer to get the people who are already subscribed to pay for something else/appeal to a new demographic, or you have to accept that you've got about as many customers as you're going to get and just focus on maintaining them

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u/CleverNameTheSecond Feb 03 '23

But if not for constant growth how will the stonks go up even more?

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u/Sam-TheRaccoon Feb 03 '23

But that requires logic and reason and not being a greedy asshole.

6

u/voiderest Feb 03 '23

Private companies and long-term investors can be realistic about the whole finite population thing. Publicly traded companies appealing to short-term investors won't be able to be realistic and will burnout trying to keep profits increasing year after year.

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u/jdm1891 Feb 03 '23

I don't understand why exponential growth is the goal. If you are making a consistent profit every year as a very large company (adjusted for inflaction and the like - though I bet inflation would be much lower if companies didn't all gun for exponential growth in the first place) - why can't you just be happy with that?

Exponential growth is killing the planet, the economy, our society, and our future.

8

u/cheesyvoetjes Feb 03 '23

That's just how capitalism works. You can not make the same profit next year, you need to show growth. Otherwise you're a stagnant company and your stocks and value go down.

13

u/bdone2012 Feb 03 '23

It really does suck. Because you wind up destroying good companies. Netflix probably spent a lot of money in development costs preparing for this. For example they built out the feature to allow you move profiles across accounts. They wouldn’t have done it otherwise. Plus all the costs of testing it etc. And the cost of all the business people who spent months sitting around in meetings talking about it.

They felt they needed this to make more money, and presumably now their stocks will drop because the plan didn’t work. So now they’ll be more desperate. So they’re likely to do cost cuttings such as firing people, maybe slashing production budgets, and just straight up raising the cost of subscriptions. None of these are great options.

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u/rastilin Feb 04 '23

Didn't they just raise the cost of subscriptions earlier?

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u/sushisection Feb 03 '23

stagnant companies sound more reliable to put your money in because of stability in the company, but what do i know

3

u/Skuzy1572 Feb 04 '23

I would prefer to support companies like that.

3

u/torrasque666 Feb 04 '23

There's a reason energy stocks were considered to be "safe" investments for dividends. They really don't fluctuate much, barring extreme situations.

13

u/doomgiver98 Feb 03 '23

I'm sure a big source of revenue for Netflix are the people that are all subscribed and don't bother unsubscribing because it's "only" $10 a month. But now they're calling attention to it so people unsubscribe because they realize they don't watch it anymore.

2

u/zerogee616 Feb 04 '23

And that's already in danger because it's not 2015 anymore, half of Netflix's content is on other platforms and they all want $10 a month. It's not some forgettable number anymore.

6

u/ryper42 Feb 03 '23

Their next problem will probably be revenue per subscriber, with people switching to a lower tier because the new sharing restrictions made the extra streams less useful, and people who get cut off from sharing not wanting to spend much or just not having 4K screens.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '23

[deleted]

3

u/l3rN Feb 03 '23

This, far more than any other reason, is why I'm no longer subbed. The password sharing stuff they're pushing is annoying, but how often I felt like my time had been wasted by becoming invested in a show of theirs was a complete deal breaker.

4

u/VellDarksbane Feb 03 '23

Subscription service based companies like this will always hit that hard limit. This would be fine, it's not like Netflix has stopped being profitable, except, capitalism needs green line to go up, which only happens if the company keeps growing.

So they have to do one of two things, find a way to increase prices without adding additional cost, or add more subscribers. Both of those are anti-consumer, so they're going to first exploit the "3rd world" countries harder, then when they run out there, move to the "1st world" ones.

5

u/Tyrnall Feb 03 '23

Hmmm… it’s almost as if the infinite growth based model of capitalism is fundamentally flawed. Turns out that growth cannot be infinite…

2

u/Skuzy1572 Feb 04 '23

I’m ready to see it all come crumbling down.

2

u/Tyrnall Feb 04 '23

It’s been showing cracks for a while

2

u/Skuzy1572 Feb 04 '23

I need it to happen faster lol. Screw capitalism.

2

u/Tyrnall Feb 04 '23

The only way I know to hasten it is to spread class consciousness and radicalize people.

3

u/Ezren- Feb 03 '23

The idea of infinite growth in business is an idiotic one. Far too late for them to appear better in the public eye.

2

u/fireky2 Feb 03 '23

Have they not been on the internet for the past 4 months, they've been nonstop saying that

1

u/Skuzy1572 Feb 04 '23

Right like. Did no one read even one comment section for the past 3/4 months

1

u/Seaniard Feb 03 '23

What research are they doing to come up with the conclusion they did? Seems like an absurd thing to assume.

1

u/GeT_Tilted Feb 04 '23

I know they tested the new policy in Latin America before expanding it to NA.

1

u/PopCultureWeekly Feb 03 '23

They haven’t changed course. The CEO literally announced to shareholders that not only will they be rolling this out but they will be charging for it too.

1

u/AARod40 Feb 04 '23

What!!?? So you think that this plan is just paused for now??

3

u/PopCultureWeekly Feb 04 '23

I absolutely think it’s paused for now. It’d be pretty devastating financially if they told stockholders their plan then completely nixed it.

1

u/ahumanlikeyou Feb 04 '23

Right. They care about something that is separate from their fucking policies.

1

u/Bismothe-the-Shade Feb 04 '23

Its so stupid too, if they just stopped ducking around and you know... Let a few shows actually wrap up, they'd be the main stay in every house.

Growth isn't infinite, why do they have to be greedy?

1

u/Gay_For_Gary_Oldman Feb 04 '23

After equivocating for a few years, i just cancelled mine. I barely watch netflix now, and since they cancelled 1899, i dont have anything i'm really looking forward to.

1

u/jwhibbles Feb 04 '23

No, they expect that the others will use the cheaper (or free) ad-version, where they can make more money off the ad-revenue than they are making with paid subscriptions. This is all a play to get people to use the ad version.

1

u/RapidKiller1392 Feb 04 '23

Caring about constant growth in a finite world. Great strategy

1

u/Lich_Frosty Feb 04 '23

It's wild that these stupidly large companies think no growth is a bad thing, if anything I'd consider it a proud moment when your product/service reaches a point that it physically cannot get any higher without trying to pull a fast one.

1

u/Takenforganite Feb 04 '23

The only growth they are going to experience with this bs is the combined boner of their customers fucking them over a barrel as they unsubscribe.

1

u/Netcob Feb 04 '23

There must be some name for it, right? When fast-growing companies hit a wall where they can't get more customers, so they start squeezing every penny out of their existing customers until they start leaving?

1

u/CrazyKilla15 Feb 04 '23

Which is incredibly stupid because they literally only need to provide one feature to get tons of people switching to their own accounts

the ability to actually switch to a new account. To transfer your profile and your watchlist and everything.

Not to mention netflix for years encouraged password sharing

1

u/EristicTrick Feb 04 '23

Are we sure the CEO isn't shorting the stock or something? Netflix has burned through so much good will in the past year that it feels like intentional sabotage.

oOps we didn't mean to post those draconian rules in the US... yet

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '23

[deleted]

2

u/ChaosAzeroth Feb 04 '23

People are paying extra for more screens to do this, it's not free.

Hope you at least also think Netflix has no right to get pissed when people cut down their plan because they don't need that many active screens anymore.

2

u/silenttd Feb 04 '23

And it may, and it's probably good that some of the streaming services start failing. It's an annoyingly crowded marketplace

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u/Deputy_Scrub Feb 03 '23

In Netflix's mind, they really hoped that those 3 people would get their own account.

But in reality the first person is either going to downgrade their account or cancel it outright, and the other 3 most likely won't get their own accounts.

7

u/samspopguy Feb 04 '23

Bingo. And exactly what I did.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '23

[deleted]

1

u/Antananarivo Feb 04 '23

I have to down vote you cause, SHhhhhhhh!!

4

u/WebHead1287 Feb 03 '23

Netflix does because they stopped growing so now they have to come up with some way to make it look their base is growing (new sign ups not active streaming hours)

2

u/jukenaye Feb 03 '23

One would think that the price increase was enough, but password thing? Common....

Bye Netflix.

5

u/Mr_ToDo Feb 03 '23

Same reason as airlines and ISP's with their services.

They oversubscribe. The pricing model isn't going to be designed around everyone using the features they sell.

I imagine that between the subscribers they've been shedding over the last few years and the increase in the sharing due to the price increases they figured that they should make the switch they did. But it's one of those things that's pretty hard to do post launch without backlash.

It is rather amusing that they are trying to bring in more money and also cancelling more shows. It's like a never ending cycle of 'the beatings will continue until morale improves'.

Personally I'm thinking at this point they are just trying to drain the company of cash before if fails. If it was anything else they would be actually trying to pivot the company at some point.

1

u/wildeaboutoscar Feb 04 '23

It reminds me of when Spotify stopped being free (feels hard to believe now when you look at it). They navigated it reasonably well and are more successful now. They weren't the scale of Netflix at the time of the change though, which I think is the key difference. The timing matters too- if they'd done this before everyone and their dog had a streaming platform then I can see it being more successful. Now the market is so crowded and Netflix has been hit and miss production wise it's very risky.

I don't share my account but I will probably cancel if the changes happen in the UK. I watch it once a month or so and need an excuse to get around to cancelling.

3

u/ProbablePenguin Feb 03 '23

It's just like ISPs with their dick-move data caps.

If I pay for some amount of bandwidth, I should get to use it.

1

u/wildeaboutoscar Feb 04 '23

Probably showing my ignorance here so apologies but isn't that more of a supply issue from their end?

3

u/RapidAscent Feb 04 '23

No, not really.

It's more about controlling what your customers can do with the service and the ecosystem around the service.

AT&T fiber is 1GBPS up and down, truly unlimited, for $70/month. Month to month.

Comcast Xfinity is 100 down and 15 up for the same price, with a cap at 1TB and fraud level data charges.

You can't get 1GBPS up and down unmetered for $70 in a data center, so it makes Comcast look like modern day DSL.

Comcast has massive vested interest in limiting what you do with your data - specifically torrenting and media sharing. AT&T doesn't care as much and they are focused on providing the best service.

3

u/ProbablePenguin Feb 04 '23

It could be, maybe they're severely overselling service to be able to advertise faster speeds, which is not what an ISP should be doing.

Or in the case of comcast they have other reasons, like they want you to buy their expensive TV/cable packages so limiting streaming helps with that.

But a good ISP has no data caps, you just pay for a pipe of a certain size.

2

u/GMaestrolo Feb 04 '23

I'm paying for 4 streams, and we have 4 user profiles. Two of those user profiles belong to people who do not live in my house, but would also definitely not pay for Netflix themselves.

If they can no longer use the streams that I'm paying for, I don't really see the point in paying for that many streams, so instead of gaining two more subscribers, Netflix would have one subscriber paying them less.

2

u/Susperry Feb 04 '23

They're just making the other 3 people pay the same price for an account as you, since now,effectively, you can share the 4 streams with 4 people and split the cost, meaning it costs you 1/4th of the listed price to have access to netflix.

In the new system , everyone would pay the full price for 1 stream or close to it, but in any case, more than they pay now. Meaning, more accounts, more profit, more "value for investors".

In the end, all good things (or even mediocre, like Netflix) are ruined by greed and wet dreams of eternal "growth".

2

u/RhythmGeek2022 Feb 03 '23

Of course they have to care. Typically, there’s 1-2 incomes per household. They don’t care that anyone else without an income (typically their children) is also streaming. They are not potential additional subscriptions. A different household is

I’m not saying I agree with the change but saying that it doesn’t matter is simply incorrect

1

u/tactican Feb 04 '23

Netflix shareholders want more money.

1

u/cynric42 Feb 04 '23

Businesses often do a calculation assuming how many people will actually use the service to the fullest. Yes, the package includes 4 streams, but on average most people will only use let’s say 1.5 streams. So the price the package accordingly.

But if many customers share their account, that average ends up higher, so maybe 2.3 streams on average. Now their calculations don’t match up any more and they either need to increase price or get that average number down.

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u/victorescu Feb 03 '23

Exactly and don't couple higher # of streams to 4k. I like 4k, i pay for 4k, i get more streams so I share those streams with family. If i can't share it with family then it isn't worth that insane amount. Then you need to give me a 4k tier with fewer streams.

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u/celestrial1 Feb 04 '23

100% this!! This is exactly why I cancelled.

3

u/cynric42 Feb 04 '23

I’d love a lower priced 4K option, but my guess is it wouldn’t be a lot cheaper. They probably set the current price assuming most people won’t use those 4 streams. Yeah, there might be the rare occasion where the parents, both kids and grandma all watch Netflix at the same time, so putting 4 streams in the offer provides those customers with the knowledge they’ll never have to juggle who can watch, but realistically they will maybe use 2 streams regularly and most customers will only ever use 1.

That is just how businesses calculate.

1

u/IsildursBane20 Feb 04 '23

Their 4k sucks ass

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u/reddog093 Feb 03 '23

Especially when they used those additional streams to encourage password sharing.

2

u/Reidroc Feb 04 '23

That was just their drug pushing strategy. The first stream is free. Once hooked they limit password sharing.

4

u/manowtf Feb 03 '23

Why do they care that 2 streams are used when that's what the package allows

In the vain hope that some of those extra streams will convert to subscriptions. Whereas the reality is that people who weren't paying won't bother and of those sharing, many, like myself, will cancel because I don't use it enough to justify, but other family members outside my home do get some benefit

3

u/ithinkitmightbe Feb 04 '23

A bean counter got in charge and said “we’ll get more money if more people pay!”

How do we implement that?

What if we stop password sharing, that will force people who don’t pay for their own account to pay for their own sub!

Except their content has gone down hill, lots and lots of the shows on there are fairly average.

There are multiple other streaming platforms now, so we have a choice.

And as soon as you try to “crack down on password sharing” people will cancel the sub because it’s not worth it anymore.

Instead of trying to punish their customer base, they need To provide new / better content but the management of the company as so disconnected from their customer base, and too greedy, so it wont happen.

3

u/ericypoo Feb 03 '23

Such an easier and less aggressive solution to this. Either absolute morons at the top of that organization or deathly greedy. So probably both.

3

u/hairlice Feb 03 '23

Give me 1 stream with hi-res. I don't need 4 screens. PLEASE!

3

u/Hackmodford Feb 04 '23

What really sucks is I cannot buy 1 stream at 4K HDR

5

u/munchler Feb 03 '23

I think the answer is that people rarely use all the streams they've purchased at the same time in the same house. So, by eliminating password sharing, they hope to reduce their network streaming costs while still technically allowing the same number of simultaneous streams.

8

u/bdone2012 Feb 03 '23

Limiting their network streaming costs in that way seems like a terrible idea. Another way of saying that is trying to get people to use the product less. The less people use the product, the less the product is worth.

They generally want people to watch stuff. They just miscalculated and assumed that all that matters is how much the person who pays for it watches. But this really isn’t true at all. Often times the one paying for it watches it the least but they get a password from their friends or family for a different streaming service so it all evens out.

4

u/munchler Feb 03 '23

I agree. It's like a gym membership where they make it difficult for you to actually use the gym. Might be good for the bottom line in the short term, but it's definitely not a great long-term business strategy.

2

u/nonPlayerCharacter7 Feb 03 '23

They are under the delusion that people aren’t just going to immediately cancel the second they can’t share passwords

2

u/SharpieKing69 Feb 03 '23

That’s what’s frustrating to me. I already pay for the top tier plan so that me, my wife, my parents, and my brother can all stream at the same time without anyone getting booted. I’ve had that plan for years and suddenly they’re like “nah, more plz”. My brother probably won’t get his own account and there’s a good chance my parents won’t either, so now Netflix is just losing 2 profiles worth of streams instead of whatever they think they’re gaining.

2

u/Budget_Inevitable721 Feb 04 '23

Because not everyone will watch at the same time. People have done this for over a decade. You work night shift? Share with the guy who has a 9-5. You have Hulu and they have Netflix? We'll coordinate what days we watch each.

2

u/wagdog84 Feb 04 '23

Does that mean I can’t use my paid for stream when I am away on holidays?

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u/nailz1000 Feb 03 '23

They don't care if 9 people in one house watch several streams of netflix. They care if 9 households use one account because that's 8 subscribers they're potentially missing out on. It's growth, that's what they care about.

10

u/r3dk0w Feb 03 '23

You know in some sterile boardroom somewhere a group of Netflix'ers were tasked with coming up with ideas to increase their subscriber counts and one of them brought up requiring a separate account for each person in the household.

I bet the idea even made it out of committee.

3

u/nailz1000 Feb 03 '23

It wouldn't shock me at all tbh lol

4

u/r3dk0w Feb 03 '23

It worked for cell phone service.

2

u/aaaaaaaarrrrrgh Feb 03 '23

Why do they care that 2 streams are used when that's what the package allows?

This is not about what it costs them, it's about how much money they can make.

2 people paying $15 each is more money than them splitting one $15 account (price made up, didn't check what they charge nowadays)

1

u/SeaweedSorcerer Feb 03 '23

They care because their pricing assumes most people will utilize a certain amount of streaming content fees and bandwidth that is less than the absolute maximum they offer at each tier. If too many people share then it distorts the usage on the top end.

People complaining about the end of password sharing are really saying that households that don’t password share should subsidize those that do. (Other than all of the more reasonable complaints about the specific mechanisms Netflix can use to combat that. The false positives are killer.)

1

u/b_joshua317 Feb 03 '23

Someone said yesterday the number of screens was removed?

1

u/RampantSavagery Feb 03 '23

Premium gets 6 now

1

u/TbonerT Feb 03 '23

It reminds me of when games go from a single in-game currency to 2 or more.

1

u/alleddie11 Feb 04 '23

Nfl Sunday ticket only allows 1 stream. If someone signs in while you’re watching you get kicked out. They should do the same.

1

u/Felskiluscious Feb 04 '23

My moms account only has one stream and I had to end up getting my own because someone was always watching. You win this time netflix

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u/dm_me_ur_keyboards Feb 04 '23

That actually makes sense.

1

u/saltyhasp Feb 04 '23

Same thing with floating and bound licenses for software. You would think a seat is a seat but a floating license is usually 1.5X the price of a bound license.

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u/Chaos_Ice Feb 04 '23

How is your font different :0

1

u/Schwertkeks Feb 04 '23

also they force you into the 4 streams package to get decent quality but don't want you to use it as a 4 stream package

1

u/Sleepyposeidon Feb 04 '23

this could probably earn them even more without the backlash, who ever you are Netflix should hire you instead of the potatoes there making these rules

1

u/IsildursBane20 Feb 04 '23

The lowest end package IS 1 streaming

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u/ihatepandemics89 Feb 04 '23

Exactly. We pay for 4 streams. They are the ones that made this an option. Our fam said F Netflix as soon as this was released. The other streaming services have too much to offer these days.