I am costing Netflix millions
For the last five years, OR for as long as I can recall, I have been paying Netflix monthly without fail. That makes me one of their loyal customers. However, based on their recent announcement, my actions are costing them millions. I share my Netflix login credentials with my parents, in-laws, and sister without any reimbursement.
Netflix argues this is the reason for their revenue and subscriber loss. I strongly disagree. To the contrary, people like me have remained subscribers to the higher tiers (4K and four screens) because we are sharing. On many occasions, I considered cancelling my subscription. Still, I didn’t because my parents and in-laws occasionally use Netflix, and I prefer not to disrupt an otherwise working system. I can assure you that my parents would never subscribe to Netflix independently. I do not believe I am doing anything wrong. Legally, my actions may be against Netflix’s terms of conditions. However, Netflix has encouraged this behaviour in the past:
I’d argue that their poor performance is due to the lack of quality content and the increased competition that didn’t exist five years ago. Quantity is irrelevant when the quality of the content isn’t up to par, especially when there is competition from the likes of Disney and Apple.
Netflix provides a consistent experience on every platform, and it is pre-installed on most television and media streamers. This is their advantage. They wouldn’t have this problem if they had the same consistency/advantage with production quality. It is not an easy problem to fix. I accept that. However, raising prices and blaming your loyal customers isn’t magically going to resolve the issue.
I will start with proposing a small change that may assist locking in customers for the long haul — Allow customers to pay annually. Hell tempt them with a discount for annual payments just like Disney and Apple TV+. A monthly payment is like a regular nudge to reconsider whether Netflix is a worthy subscription for the forthcoming month.
Disclosure: I indirectly have a small investment in Netflix.
Originally published at https://merecivilian.com on April 20, 2022.