If you are like pretty much everyone I know, you are guilty of sharing a Netflix password with friends or family members.
People you don't even talk to have your Netflix password. And their friends. And their friends. There have been times I've been logged in to Netflix and I don't think I even knew ANYONE on the account.
That's part of what's made Netflix so prolific: One person pays for the account, and everyone in the family mooches off of them.
But it looks like this sharing may be a thing of the past.
From NBC:
Netflix, the world's largest streaming video company, warned a global crackdown on password sharing is coming. It seems like a serious warning this time, and it could mean an end to the rampant practice of borrowing a family member's or friend's — or loose acquaintance's — login information.
Netflix said it estimates more than 30 million U.S. and Canadian households are using a shared password to access its content. The company said more than 100 million additional households were likely using a shared password worldwide.
Netflix is under huge financial pressure right now as it loses subscribers due to its infection with the woke mind virus.
Stocks are crashing and subscribers are abandoning ship, but Netflix continues to put out content like this:
Whatever happened to Netflix just being a place to watch any old or classic movie? Why is it all this trash original content?
If Netflix keeps this up they might be going the way of Blockbuster.
In its quarterly shareholder letter, Netflix acknowledged it has purposefully allowed generous out-of-home password sharing because it helped get users hooked on the service. But with competition from Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global, NBCUniversal, Apple TV+ and other streamers eating into its growth, Netflix said it wants the millions of households sharing passwords to start paying.
"Our relatively high household penetration — when including the large number of households sharing accounts — combined with competition, is creating revenue growth headwinds," Netflix said in its letter. "Account sharing as a percentage of our paying membership hasn't changed much over the years, but, coupled with the first factor, means it's harder to grow membership in many markets — an issue that was obscured by our COVID growth."
When things were going good and Netflix was growing, they didn't care if you shared your Netflix account. But now that things are stagnating and they are losing customers they are going to want EVERYONE to start paying for access.
Earlier this year, Netflix began testing different ways to curb password sharing in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. Executives said on the company's earnings call Tuesday that it could expand the model it laid out in those countries, charging extra to accounts that share passwords out of home.
Netflix didn't outline a concrete global strategy yet but suggested global changes could come as early as 2023.
Let me go all Nostradamus here and explain what's going to happen.
People are sharing Netflix accounts. Netflix stops that. The person paying for the account will realize "I don't really watch it that often" and stop paying.
Instead of having 30 million freeloaders begin to pay, instead, you'll have all of them drop off the face of the earth along with faithful customers. Any hope of getting new subscribers will be dashed by the steady stream of terrible, preachy woke content that Netflix loves.
And, to that, I would say "good riddance!"
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