Peter Ballard and Millie Bobby Brown as Elf in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy Netflix © 2022 Courtesy Netflix
While a large number of people may shy away from letting them know that their “household” is no longer covered by a friend’s or family’s NetflixNFLX plan due to the new password sharing rules, it does seem to do what Netflix had hoped for. And if the plan proves successful in the end, expect other streaming services to follow the same path.
According to data research firm Antenna (via Variety), the four days since the password crackdown began resulted in the highest four days of logins in the U.S. since January 2019, when data tracking began. That was a 102% increase from the previous average and more than the increase caused by COVID, when everyone was locked in at home and wanted something to watch.
On Netflix’s two most expensive plans, additional accounts cost $8 each. The lowest two options don’t allow you to add people at all, as Netflix only wants those people to subscribe for their own at that price.
The market seems to be loving Netflix’s content and account plans. With the entire streaming industry under scrutiny over the flood of shows and the authors’ pay cuts leading to the massive writers’ strike, Netflix as a company has seen its stock soar 25% over the past month and 129% over the past month are last year.
That’s great for Netflix, but if the idea of ”adding paid accounts” goes hand in hand with the complete phasing out of password-sharing services, I, as a consumer, would absolutely expect similarly strong action to be taken along the lines of Netflix. I expect HBO/HBO Max/Max to address this almost immediately, and I expect that any day. As for the rest? Amazon, AppleAAPL, Hulu, Disney, Paramount, Peacock (am I missing any?), they might end up following. Although Netflix has the largest market share, it has more customers to lose from this practice, and other smaller services might be willing to forego it as long as more people watch their shows overall. But I bet a lot of them actually go that route.
Despite many discussions about streaming and Netflix in particular, this does not lead to success. Broadcast television will never really recover, and it will be a very long time before Netflix continues to lose significant market share. After this surge in new subscribers, it may be difficult to replicate as they are reaching a global saturation point, but for now they are in overdrive.
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I’ve been writing about video games, television, and film for Forbes for over 10 years, and you may have seen my reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. I cover all types of console and PC games, but when it comes to looting or gunfights I’m definitely in. When I watch something, it’s usually sci-fi, horror, or superheroes. I’m also a regular on IGN’s Fireteam Chat podcast and have published five sci-fi novels.
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