How many new subscribers would they have had in the same time period anyway?
Article says Netflix believes 100 million (half of all subscribers) houses were sharing passwords. Six million would be like 3% growth ...which is how much more then they would have if they didn't do this? 1.5% maybe?
First, they’re not seeing the effects of their policy yet. Its too soon after launch. I know I haven’t received a notification yet, and if they lock it down, netflix is getting cut. I might rotate them in and out, but like in the case of twitter and reddit, I will walk away. There’s more content out there than anyone can watch in several lifetimes already. If I resubscribe one month per year to catch up on the baking show, so be it.
Second, they’re doing the typical thing where they’re quoting a KPI without context. Once things have settled down (which, again, they haven’t yet) we can see whether their month over month and year over year subscriber count, hours watched, and revenue has increased over what it would have been otherwise. That’s a key part. If, six months from now, they’re showing sustained and above average growth in major markets, then they did make the right call (for them - I’d still be out as a customer). If not, then whoever came up with this scheme should be questioning their decision-making.
In science, cherry picking measurements to support your narrative is called p-hacking. It’s frowned upon. In business ot can get you promoted, unless you happen to work with someone who knows that trick and who is willing to out you doing it.
What ever you do, please do not visit communities like !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com to find methods of getting the content you want. Remember, you wouldn't download a car, you wouldn't download a netflix. Piracy, it's a crime it doesn't cost a dime!
I have a netflix subscription. But I still torrent netflix series.
Because:
I travel a lot, and my downloads are more portable
Netflix are a bunch of cunts that need to be reminded that their only basis for existence is that they are (for now) slightly more convenient than piracy.
I mean… it’s not really surprising. I know the internet was all angry about it, but I’m sure most people just went “well, it was it was nice while it lasted” and subscribed to a service they already like & used but could get away with using without paying.
Set up an openvpn/wireguard server at a "home" with bandwith, and have family/friends route their Roku/streaming device route through a router with openvpn/wireguard client back to the same "home" .
After fifteen years, I cancelled my Netflix last year. Don't miss it at all.
I think all these streaming platforms forget that not all of us need to watch their content 24/7. I spend less than an hour watching television a day while eating food and that's it.
Did you know that you can still enjoy Youtube ad-free (or the occasional 10-second skippable ad). How do you do it? By not watching youtube at all aside from the random how-to video. Since I watch less than an hour of youtube a month on average, I see essentially zero ads.
I'm sure it has been a profitable move in the short term, but I think password sharing was what enabled Netflix shows to have a more significant cultural impact than shows on other streaming services—despite the relatively poor quality of Netflix's programming.
I think it remains to be seen if that is sustainable groth or if it is a short term effect and piracy will pick back up as people ditch netflix and the other streaming services as they become more inconvenient.