News JVTech Netflix Looking To Avoid Massive Losses From Its Battle Against Joint Accounts: Here Are The Future Platform Changes To Hold You Back
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In 2023, Netflix is making the fight against password sharing its top priority. Apart from the fact that by attacking this very widespread practice, the streaming service risks losing many subscribers. Here’s what Netflix is doing to turn that potential loss into big gains…always potentially.
Netflix is struggling and seeking a voice toward profitability
Intuitively, one might think that Netflix is a company that’s doing extremely well. Netflix, the overwhelming leader in the streaming market, is banging its “TOUDOUM” for more than 230 million subscribed accounts. However, 2022 ended on a sad note: Profitability is not there yet.
Producing and hosting thousands if not millions of hours of movies, series and anime of all kinds is extremely expensive, especially in this post-COVID era of runaway inflation. So what to do? Netflix is gradually increasing its prices, trying to set up a subscription formula with ads (small flop), trying to maintain its growth in subscribers … but None of this is enough.
In 2023, the American company therefore made a big decision: to tackle the problem of account sharing. This is currently THE big Netflix project. According to Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings, who left his post 3 weeks ago, that would be the case 100 million people who would use the streaming service without paying for it, i.e. using a loved one’s password. This is a tremendous deficiency.
End of Netflix Account Sharing: Heading for Subscriber Flight?
In a blog post published on its US website on Wednesday February 8, Netflix announces the first countries already impacted by this account sharing restriction: Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Europe. That the United States isn’t among them is surprising: Netflix has obviously decided to keep its strongest market for some time.
As you can see, 2 European countries are already affected by these new restrictions. It is only a matter of time before France is also affected by the new Netflix measures.
Be that as it may, implementing this constraint obviously makes subscribers responsive. Many people agreed with their relatives to share an account and the associated subscription price. Without this bundling, which allows access to the service at a lower cost, many people risk simply unsubscribing. The operation is therefore extremely risky for the company aiming for profitability.
The thousands of reactions from angry internet users testify that the unsubscribe wave has already started to break. Netflix needs to respond. You know what ? Not only will they actually respond, but we already have a little overview of Netflix’s strategies to keep as many people on its platform as possible and grow its subscriber base.
Netflix’s Upcoming Changes to Avoid Serious Subscriber and Monetary Losses
Most importantly, Netflix understood that it shouldn’t wage ruthless war against people who share their accounts, especially their loved ones. The measures being taken to limit the impact of passwords being blown in the ears will be much less drastic than everyone expected.
Originally, Netflix’s idea was to force all users on the same account to connect to the home’s main WiFi network at least every 31 days. After this time, the account will be suspended (and sorry for your Latin American road trip, it will be without Netflix).
The constraint is now lighter: If someone connects from a network other than the home’s Wi-Fi network, they must enter an email or SMS-sent code on the device attempting the connection within 15 minutes. All you have to do is share access to a mailbox or automatically redirect Netflix email to continue using the same account in multiple different households. It’s more painful than before, but it’s playable.
In addition to this relaxation, Netflix is introducing some interface improvements make the use of the streaming platform ever more ergonomic. Navigating Netflix needs to be as enjoyable as possible, much more enjoyable than browsing the competition’s interfaces.
The Premium 4K plan has also recently received a slight upgrade: Offline content can now be downloaded to 6 devices instead of 4 previously. This addition aims to show that Netflix, despite its anti-password sharing policy, is trying to make life easier for large families or people who really need a lot of simultaneous screens.
Still aiming to increase retention, Netflix is improving the sound quality of its content, particularly with the launch of Audio Spatial (always with a premium account). Netflix already offered its home content in Dolby Atmos and many films and series in 5.1. The point here is not to multiply the channels, but to better reproduce the spatialization effects on very simple stereo. Let’s not forget that most people don’t have a 5.1 sound system, let alone Dolby Atmos. More than 700 films or series are already compatible with Spatial Audio, including Wednesday, Stranger Things and Joker.
We could also, quite simply, be talking about the company’s increasingly massive investments in content. Series like the live-action One Piece are meant to bring people back. The streaming service is also trying to branch out by getting into the world of video game. With more and more investment in Netflix games, some very cool titles could see the light of day.
Will these small changes be enough? case follows. Netflix will still need to work on the quality of its offering to avoid losing subscribers and potentially losing millions of dollars.
