Tuesday, March 26

Netflix is ​​starting to charge for account sharing. It makes sense to think that it is only the beginning of something else.


Netflix’s announcement that it will start charging for sharing accounts, even if it is on a trial basis and only in some countries, is blood-chilling thunder for anyone who has gotten used to reducing their subscription bill thanks to key sharing. with the friend, the neighbor, the sister-in-law and those of the paddle tennis. Something that may have its days numbered if Netflix decides to press the red button and make the test something definitive.

The company, yes, was crystal clear in its communication and did not hide behind spells or excuses to justify the rise: it directly said that this movement “will allow it to improve its ability to invest in new series and movies.” The key is that Sharing accounts between families seems reasonable to them, but they want to limit that habit to that area: that each household pays for its own password. It is something that has been in the service conditions for years (point 4.2) but has never been pursued in practice. At the moment it is being tested in three countries. Tomorrow, we will see if it does not happen from there or it was just the prelude to something global.

Comparison of Disney +, Netflix, HBO, Prime Video, Movistar + Lite, Filmin, Apple TV and Rakuten TV: catalog, functions and prices

the triple threat

This is not an isolated news that suggests that Netflix wants to increase the average price that each user pays. In recent years we have seen multiple rises in its intermediate and high price plans, being a basic plan with more and more seams (SD quality in 2022) the only one that has remained unchanged in almost seven years. eight euros.

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There are three keys that have led Netflix to take measures with which to get more money from its subscribers, subtly torpedo accounts-too-shared and open up previously unpublished options, such as a cheaper specific plan to use on mobiles and only on certain countries or leave the door open to advertising at cheaper rates. Namely:

  1. Production costs on the rise. In 2014, Netflix was spending $3 billion a year on its content. In 2021 that figure rose to almost 15,000 million dollars. A percentage increase above your billing. Creating content has become increasingly expensive for production companies, who compete fiercely with each other to attract talent for acting, scripting, etc. And that inflation always ends up paying.
  2. Slowing growth. In his first years dedicating himself to streaming, Netflix increased its number of subscribers between 30% and 60% each year. The global expansion was reducing that index – something logical in any industry – and now it barely reaches double digits. Without so many growth prospects, the indebtedness to which Netflix has been exposed to maintain growth begins to have to be cut and imagine a scenario where it is beginning to hit the ceiling.
  3. The absence of a mattress and other distribution windows. It is something that HBO has, which has been in the industry for fifty years and not only in the online world; or Disney, which owns centuries-old franchises in addition to the property of Marvel, Pixar and company; as well as direct cinema releases that are sent directly and exclusively to their platforms. Then there are competitors that do not view their video-on-demand service as a single product, but rather as part of a larger ecosystem, such as Amazon and Apple, both with incomparable financial backing. Netflix lacks these weapons.

A perfect storm that leaves Netflix somewhat more exposed to turbulence, and therefore imperatively more agile when it comes to reacting with varied formulas to shore up its income. From the aforementioned (alternative plans, openness to advertising, biennial rate increases, controls on shared accounts…) to more exotic ones such as pivot from being a video-on-demand company to an entertainment company. And there are more things there. Like video games.

Perhaps this is also a way of fighting against something that is inevitably coming as prices have risen. Those who wanted to take advantage of their 4K TV with Netflix paid 12 euros a month five years ago. Today they are 18. That spike triggers the chances of visceral cancellation.instinctive, without too much reflection.

Netflix

With more content to get hooked on (like games!), it becomes difficult to press the red button. Another great way to keep us captive, by the way, is shared accounts. Paying 18 euros a month sounds like an expense that we can quickly cancel if we feel that we are not going to use it. Notify three other friends so that they are aware and do not send us the April bizum or bother us with questions on the 1st, is another story. The maneuver is complicated.

The measure to restrict shared accounts outside our families (something that Spotify raised long ago) is being tested by Netflix in three countries, but we could see it go global sooner rather than later. is also the option of discarding it in favor of other types of similar measures, such as limiting the number of registered devices, something that the industry usually sets at five, to the annoyance of the main administrator of the account. Or reduce the number of profiles per account, something that can bother those who share more than allowed, either because they are not clear about the episode they are going through when several are watching the same series, or because of modesty to show our guilty pleasure of dawns. Each one falls asleep as he wants and do it watching There is no one living here it is as valid a form as any other.

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Netflix came into our lives as a service that offered us movies and series on demand for a very cheap price, but in less than ten years it has become one more actor among the many that offer something similar, at a much higher price to the rest, and with increasing hostilities to share accounts. Normal when they arrive at ring giants like Amazon, Disney, Amazon or HBO.

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