I've never shared passwords and I've never cancelled Netflix because I wanted to support their model of streaming, no content blackouts, and full season drops. Obviously, it wasn't priced well and/or people have taken advantage because that model is clearly going away. I am not going to pay for blackouts and slow releases though, sorry. I'll just focus on video games and buy the handful of shows that do more than fill time from Amazon. I have a feeling there are going to be a few years of negative feedback loops before things stabilize again.
I would be surprised if Netflix switched full-on to a weekly release model. I think it makes sense with some things (e.g., game shows), but their whole TV model is based on binge watching. If it's unsustainable I think it mostly means that Netflix simply doesn't work as a business proposition writ large.
You'd know better than me, but I still worry. All the other streamers are against full drops and many prioritize cable releases over the streaming platform. They are now selling off their back catalogs too. All of those seem to be prudent financial decisions even if it means an inferior product. If Netflix feels they need the revenue I'm worried they cave. They've already created an ad tier (didn't mention earlier I'm against paying for the privilege of watching ads as well). Its not the only option but the overall trendlines are worrying to me.
What happens when you are traveling and the expectation of the hotel/AirBnB is that you log into your personal Netflix account to watch a movie on the smart TV in the room? Won’t that be history now?
This column was horribly depressing to me, given my eternal optimism that studios will start making good (read: not super hero) movies again. I get it that Netflix needs to make money and this rule won’t affect my family at all. But if everyone is doing this, I’ll lose Hulu and I’m not sure i like it enough to pay for it. This is a bit like having 6 subscriptions to various MMORPGs that you play once every couple of months. The cost can get out of hand very quickly.
Lol what I love about the folks who are pissed at the new password sharing safeguards is that these entitled brats ACTUALLY believe they're making a viable business argument for ending the practice by saying that they'll just stop using Netflix and/or will pirate instead.
It's like a grocery store enforcing shoplifting prevention strategies and some dipshit tells you they're henceforth going to shoplift from a rival store as if that would hurt the original business.
Wrong. Netflix is making the mistake of thinking that my father (who is currently using my Netflix account ) will become a customer if they cut off his access to my account. He will not. I AM a customer, and I will cease to be one if Netflix goes through with this. That is a net loss of revenue for Netflix.
Netflix needs me (and other people like me) more than I need Netflix.
How will Netflix tell the difference between someone using my account and me watching with my subscription at my second home? (using a different internet carrier). I have computers/two TVs etc at each of those locations. This is nuts and if I end up needing to pay a subscription for each device using Netflix--I will not be using Netflix.
Agreed 100% on Poker Face, but what really prompted me to respond was to give props for the Jenny Nicholson citation. I'm not pro-piracy, but that context aside, she's a pretty shrewd commentator on various aspects of pop culture. And very funny.
Just listened to the bonus episode. My favorite anti-war films remain Johnny Got His Gun (1971) and Peter Weir's Gallipoli (1981). I would also toss in Band of Brothers (2001) but that is a TV miniseries.
The challenge of creating an effective anti-war film I believe was best summed up by fictious movie director Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole) in The Stunt Man (1980): "I know a man who made an anti-war movie... a good one. When it was shown in his home town, army enlistment went up six hundred percent."
Kind of like how Martin Scorsese tried to make Wall Street look as horrible as possible in Wolf of Wall Street. Who ends up loving the movie? People who work on Wall Street!!!
It appears as though they're already walking this back:
“For a brief time yesterday, a help center article containing information that is only applicable to Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, went live in other countries,” a spokesperson for Netflix told The Streamable, adding, “We have since updated it.”
Sucks to be Chile, Costa Rica, or Peru, I suppose.
Like someone already commented, I subscribe to a higher tier of Netflix because I share it with the friend who cared for me when I was in the hospital. I would GLADLY pay a few dollars more a month to keep providing this for her. But if Netflix cuts her off, I will probably cancel. I have Prime because I want free shipping (and Amazon throws in the worst streaming service for free.) I have the Hulu/Disney/live TV bundle and I'm getting the 3 for way less than I was paying for cable. And I get HBO Maxx for free with my internet service. I don't NEED Netflix! I don't NEED 40 different streaming services! And for that one show that I like on AMC/BritBox/PBS/Paramount, I can get it for one month, catch up, and cancel. I can do the same thing and watch the last seasons of The Crown and Stranger Things and then cancel again. I'm not paying $15 a month EVERY month if I can't share.
We need fewer shows and fewer services! About a decade ago I compared streaming to an all you can eat Chinese buffet. Yeah, you could watch an unlimited amount but none of it was what you actually wanted to see. Now there are some great movies available, and some very recent releases. But the same series keep leaving one service and going to another, only to come back a a few months later. There's still a vast wasteland of reality TV. And a handful of really great shows spread out across half a dozen different services. IT'S TOO MUCH!!!!!
In some countries I believe they have add-on memberships where people can get an extra login for $3 a month. But Netflix already kind of has that (there are plans that allow four screens going simultaneously), and it's clearly not working for them because most of the people sharing passwords/profiles aren't immediate family.
That would make a lot more sense than Netflix’s current decision. I think a lot of people would be happy to pay for a family sharing option. I know I would! And there is simply no way my technology challenged 88 year old father is going to set up his own Netflix account, but I would be happy to pay Netflix a bit more money to allow him to stay on my account (which requires no additional set up on his part).
Hmm, so Netflix intentionally encouraged sharing passwords as part of a plan to dominate the market. They did, temporarily, but now there's a need for a course correction - it sounds like to me. I hope it isn't as bad as Matt Damon puts it. Are mid-level budget movies being squeezed out of the market? Can lower budget films make it?
We seem to have plenty of streaming TV series options. I'm curious about what's playing at the theaters and who's going to watch. I know I've only gone the last several years a handful of times for blockbuster type movies - so I guess I'm contributing to the problem.
I've been accumulating some movies that I purchase on Amazon Prime. But it all feels very fragmented now. I used to have a sense of some of the movies that were playing, and I used to care a bit about critic's reviews. Now I have no clue what's playing unless it's a blockbuster and I almost could care less whether critics like a film, because there is so often a disconnect between what I like and what the critics like. So I don't really watch much of anything, unless perhaps someone I know strongly recommends something.
I buy almost nothing on Prime or Vudu or iTunes because I have absolutely no faith those purchases will be there in a year or more. The licenses change, Amazon et al cut off access. Only physical!
I understand this impulse but does anyone actually go back and watch these things? I have about 1000 DVD's and Blu-Ray's sitting in their own piece of furniture just taking up space in my house. What a waste of money, space, plastic, and the energy to make and ship them. For the $20 I paid for most of them I could have rented them 4 times each and I don't think I made it to that number of watches on any of them, maybe 1 or 2. There is the risk of them disappearing forever but.....meh.
I do rewatch many of my DVDs and Blu-rays. But part of the value of disks is that they can be used to create a renal library (which can't be done with streaming, due to the fact that the content is only licensed to a given service for a limited time). In fact, I seem to recall a company that got its start by mailing disks out in red envelopes to its members...
The other good thing about DVDs and Blu-Rays is the special features they often include.
Every Black Friday, my wife and I peruse the TV collections and buy one of the good shows on Blu-ray. The Office, Parks & Rec, 30 Rock, etc. We can't trust they'll always be available to stream, or if certain episodes won't get magically removed because it's no longer "acceptable".
I am hoping that is more people experience the downsides of both streaming services and digital “ownership,“ physical media will begin to make a comeback.
As a parent with two college students, not seeing the justification to cutoff their access because they’re away from their home for a couple months at a time during the school year. And we’re not cheapskates. Pay for almost all the streaming services and have never pirated. Until they are out on their own, seems right they should have family access. But idk. I guess we’ll suck it up if they cut off their access
Came here to say something similar. I don’t think expecting everyone in your immediate family to have access to a service you pay for regardless of where they are in the world makes you a cheapskate. If Netflix cuts off access for my kids we’ll cancel. We have plenty of other streaming services to choose from
The sensible thing for Netflix to do would be to create a family plan, similar to the family plans that cell phone services use. I would happily put my father on a family plan so that he could share my account. I don’t mind paying a little more money to allow another family member to use the account I am paying for. That is reasonable. Netflix, not recognizing that family members sharing an account is a different situation from two casual acquaintances sharing passwords is not reasonable.
Yeah, this is why I would *guess* that Netflix will opt for some sort of approved-device plan (so kids at college can keep watching, etc). But also: It's not like I had access to HBO in college when I wasn't at home! I had to pay for a cable/Internet sub in my apartment. It is not outrageous to expect Netflix to do something similar.
But I pay for four screens - why should I have to pay extra when a family member views on one of those screens, regardless of where that screen is? I don't think I should pay anything extra since I've already signed up for a subscription that reflects four family members.
Technically what you're paying for is household access; if those people don't actually live in the household, Netflix doesn't want them using a login. (This goes to on of my points in the newsletter: I think Netflix will see ARPU, average revenue per user, drop as people get rid of multi-screen plans and some of the people who have to sign up for their own plans get cheaper, possibly ad-supported, plans.)
I think there is no question that Netflix will see ARPU drop. What they are forgetting is the same thing that movie studios forgot for a while when trying to fight piracy: a person who truly values an item at $0 is not and will not ever be a paying customer. If the anti-piracy campaign makes things too inconvenient for the ACTUAL customers the revenue goes down, as some of those customers quit while no additional money is obtained from the pirates (who may stop pirating, but do not start paying).
Feb 3, 2023·edited Feb 3, 2023Liked by Sonny Bunch
I deliberately signed up for a higher category of streaming (four simultaneous streams) at Netflix than I need specifically show that my elderly father could share my account. That is not freeloading! There is zero chance that my father will sign up for his own Netflix account, and this development may convince me to cancel my own account, as frankly, I don’t stream very often and don’t want to have to keep logging in to my Netflix account every 30 days or be locked out of it. I think Netflix is creating bigger headaches for itself than it realizes.
I'm in the exact same position. I upgraded to the four simultaneous streams specifically so I could share two of said streams. What I get in return is access to Hulu and Youtube TV from my friends. We're sharing the costs and this has worked out well so far. Now, if Netflix (or others) implement such a system where they'll require 2FA or some crap, I'm A) going to down grade my subscription and B) probably not pick up any of the others.
Probably, but I can attest they're getting more money from me now than they would if implemented. Especially since Netflix drops entire seasons out for binge watching, they'd only get a singular month or two of subscriptions from the others (i.e. whenever Stranger Things premiers) instead of the steady upper tier subscription I currently pay. Granted, I'm only one data point but I can't imagine I'm the only one?
At what point do these streaming services begin to merge and we just end up with Cable 2.0?
We don't media companies have staked out their territory. Disney won't merge, Comcast won't merge, Paramount won't merge. Streaming is just part of the portfolio of companies who own content, distribution, and studios. Hack analysts on Wall Street wish casting mean nothing. You will see fewer services but bigger ones only because the smaller/niche won't survive, not through mergers.
I've never shared passwords and I've never cancelled Netflix because I wanted to support their model of streaming, no content blackouts, and full season drops. Obviously, it wasn't priced well and/or people have taken advantage because that model is clearly going away. I am not going to pay for blackouts and slow releases though, sorry. I'll just focus on video games and buy the handful of shows that do more than fill time from Amazon. I have a feeling there are going to be a few years of negative feedback loops before things stabilize again.
I would be surprised if Netflix switched full-on to a weekly release model. I think it makes sense with some things (e.g., game shows), but their whole TV model is based on binge watching. If it's unsustainable I think it mostly means that Netflix simply doesn't work as a business proposition writ large.
You'd know better than me, but I still worry. All the other streamers are against full drops and many prioritize cable releases over the streaming platform. They are now selling off their back catalogs too. All of those seem to be prudent financial decisions even if it means an inferior product. If Netflix feels they need the revenue I'm worried they cave. They've already created an ad tier (didn't mention earlier I'm against paying for the privilege of watching ads as well). Its not the only option but the overall trendlines are worrying to me.
What happens when you are traveling and the expectation of the hotel/AirBnB is that you log into your personal Netflix account to watch a movie on the smart TV in the room? Won’t that be history now?
Sounds like Neflix has pulled this information and updated that they have not worked this out yet.
Pirates never pay for anything, but they love to make excuses while hiding in Reddit. Thieves need to be punished.
This column was horribly depressing to me, given my eternal optimism that studios will start making good (read: not super hero) movies again. I get it that Netflix needs to make money and this rule won’t affect my family at all. But if everyone is doing this, I’ll lose Hulu and I’m not sure i like it enough to pay for it. This is a bit like having 6 subscriptions to various MMORPGs that you play once every couple of months. The cost can get out of hand very quickly.
Lol what I love about the folks who are pissed at the new password sharing safeguards is that these entitled brats ACTUALLY believe they're making a viable business argument for ending the practice by saying that they'll just stop using Netflix and/or will pirate instead.
It's like a grocery store enforcing shoplifting prevention strategies and some dipshit tells you they're henceforth going to shoplift from a rival store as if that would hurt the original business.
Wrong. Netflix is making the mistake of thinking that my father (who is currently using my Netflix account ) will become a customer if they cut off his access to my account. He will not. I AM a customer, and I will cease to be one if Netflix goes through with this. That is a net loss of revenue for Netflix.
Netflix needs me (and other people like me) more than I need Netflix.
How will Netflix tell the difference between someone using my account and me watching with my subscription at my second home? (using a different internet carrier). I have computers/two TVs etc at each of those locations. This is nuts and if I end up needing to pay a subscription for each device using Netflix--I will not be using Netflix.
Agreed 100% on Poker Face, but what really prompted me to respond was to give props for the Jenny Nicholson citation. I'm not pro-piracy, but that context aside, she's a pretty shrewd commentator on various aspects of pop culture. And very funny.
Just listened to the bonus episode. My favorite anti-war films remain Johnny Got His Gun (1971) and Peter Weir's Gallipoli (1981). I would also toss in Band of Brothers (2001) but that is a TV miniseries.
The challenge of creating an effective anti-war film I believe was best summed up by fictious movie director Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole) in The Stunt Man (1980): "I know a man who made an anti-war movie... a good one. When it was shown in his home town, army enlistment went up six hundred percent."
Kind of like how Martin Scorsese tried to make Wall Street look as horrible as possible in Wolf of Wall Street. Who ends up loving the movie? People who work on Wall Street!!!
Thank you for the show.
I’d watch Natasha in anything. She is completely charming in Poker Face. The show has lots of really good guest stars so far.
It appears as though they're already walking this back:
“For a brief time yesterday, a help center article containing information that is only applicable to Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, went live in other countries,” a spokesperson for Netflix told The Streamable, adding, “We have since updated it.”
Sucks to be Chile, Costa Rica, or Peru, I suppose.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/netflix-backtracks-password-sharing-rules-162942246.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFnPXb0gxoKHCMtjxtJLfSuUtzh4e-oxsjaa5XH6G3hPF2aOhwAdUZDKNX_S5GyYZ1hQmmmNALuJPcOMw3D1gvj36FHsehr3Kc3TpkTzq4i9SV9a-el3t27YFc-ye9bKWNO2DUNM5AgT5J30L1OW3sZTpC3SC0JybCwtq6dCBDrM&guccounter=2
Like someone already commented, I subscribe to a higher tier of Netflix because I share it with the friend who cared for me when I was in the hospital. I would GLADLY pay a few dollars more a month to keep providing this for her. But if Netflix cuts her off, I will probably cancel. I have Prime because I want free shipping (and Amazon throws in the worst streaming service for free.) I have the Hulu/Disney/live TV bundle and I'm getting the 3 for way less than I was paying for cable. And I get HBO Maxx for free with my internet service. I don't NEED Netflix! I don't NEED 40 different streaming services! And for that one show that I like on AMC/BritBox/PBS/Paramount, I can get it for one month, catch up, and cancel. I can do the same thing and watch the last seasons of The Crown and Stranger Things and then cancel again. I'm not paying $15 a month EVERY month if I can't share.
Yup, it's a real mess, I agree. It's the inevitable result of unbundling cable: people end up paying the same (or sometimes more) for less.
We need fewer shows and fewer services! About a decade ago I compared streaming to an all you can eat Chinese buffet. Yeah, you could watch an unlimited amount but none of it was what you actually wanted to see. Now there are some great movies available, and some very recent releases. But the same series keep leaving one service and going to another, only to come back a a few months later. There's still a vast wasteland of reality TV. And a handful of really great shows spread out across half a dozen different services. IT'S TOO MUCH!!!!!
Why not offer a family sharing option you can pay for?
Why do the options have to be taking things away or making it more inconvenient?
In some countries I believe they have add-on memberships where people can get an extra login for $3 a month. But Netflix already kind of has that (there are plans that allow four screens going simultaneously), and it's clearly not working for them because most of the people sharing passwords/profiles aren't immediate family.
Nothing says they have to restrict it to family members. They could let you buy extra "licenses" like other software companies do.
That would make a lot more sense than Netflix’s current decision. I think a lot of people would be happy to pay for a family sharing option. I know I would! And there is simply no way my technology challenged 88 year old father is going to set up his own Netflix account, but I would be happy to pay Netflix a bit more money to allow him to stay on my account (which requires no additional set up on his part).
Hmm, so Netflix intentionally encouraged sharing passwords as part of a plan to dominate the market. They did, temporarily, but now there's a need for a course correction - it sounds like to me. I hope it isn't as bad as Matt Damon puts it. Are mid-level budget movies being squeezed out of the market? Can lower budget films make it?
We seem to have plenty of streaming TV series options. I'm curious about what's playing at the theaters and who's going to watch. I know I've only gone the last several years a handful of times for blockbuster type movies - so I guess I'm contributing to the problem.
I've been accumulating some movies that I purchase on Amazon Prime. But it all feels very fragmented now. I used to have a sense of some of the movies that were playing, and I used to care a bit about critic's reviews. Now I have no clue what's playing unless it's a blockbuster and I almost could care less whether critics like a film, because there is so often a disconnect between what I like and what the critics like. So I don't really watch much of anything, unless perhaps someone I know strongly recommends something.
I buy almost nothing on Prime or Vudu or iTunes because I have absolutely no faith those purchases will be there in a year or more. The licenses change, Amazon et al cut off access. Only physical!
I understand this impulse but does anyone actually go back and watch these things? I have about 1000 DVD's and Blu-Ray's sitting in their own piece of furniture just taking up space in my house. What a waste of money, space, plastic, and the energy to make and ship them. For the $20 I paid for most of them I could have rented them 4 times each and I don't think I made it to that number of watches on any of them, maybe 1 or 2. There is the risk of them disappearing forever but.....meh.
I do rewatch many of my DVDs and Blu-rays. But part of the value of disks is that they can be used to create a renal library (which can't be done with streaming, due to the fact that the content is only licensed to a given service for a limited time). In fact, I seem to recall a company that got its start by mailing disks out in red envelopes to its members...
The other good thing about DVDs and Blu-Rays is the special features they often include.
I feel the same way about my Steam library. But I keep buying games there.
Whoa whoa whoa, let's not open this can of worms.
Every Black Friday, my wife and I peruse the TV collections and buy one of the good shows on Blu-ray. The Office, Parks & Rec, 30 Rock, etc. We can't trust they'll always be available to stream, or if certain episodes won't get magically removed because it's no longer "acceptable".
Wow, didn't know that was a risk! Thanks for the tip! Maybe I will end up "renting" digitally more frequently to test drive a movie.
If I were king I would make it illegal for Amazon et al to have "purchase" buttons on these digital properties. It's a real problem! https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/you-dont-own-your-digital-movies/
I am hoping that is more people experience the downsides of both streaming services and digital “ownership,“ physical media will begin to make a comeback.
From your keyboard to God's eyes.
As a parent with two college students, not seeing the justification to cutoff their access because they’re away from their home for a couple months at a time during the school year. And we’re not cheapskates. Pay for almost all the streaming services and have never pirated. Until they are out on their own, seems right they should have family access. But idk. I guess we’ll suck it up if they cut off their access
Came here to say something similar. I don’t think expecting everyone in your immediate family to have access to a service you pay for regardless of where they are in the world makes you a cheapskate. If Netflix cuts off access for my kids we’ll cancel. We have plenty of other streaming services to choose from
The sensible thing for Netflix to do would be to create a family plan, similar to the family plans that cell phone services use. I would happily put my father on a family plan so that he could share my account. I don’t mind paying a little more money to allow another family member to use the account I am paying for. That is reasonable. Netflix, not recognizing that family members sharing an account is a different situation from two casual acquaintances sharing passwords is not reasonable.
Yeah, this is why I would *guess* that Netflix will opt for some sort of approved-device plan (so kids at college can keep watching, etc). But also: It's not like I had access to HBO in college when I wasn't at home! I had to pay for a cable/Internet sub in my apartment. It is not outrageous to expect Netflix to do something similar.
But I pay for four screens - why should I have to pay extra when a family member views on one of those screens, regardless of where that screen is? I don't think I should pay anything extra since I've already signed up for a subscription that reflects four family members.
Technically what you're paying for is household access; if those people don't actually live in the household, Netflix doesn't want them using a login. (This goes to on of my points in the newsletter: I think Netflix will see ARPU, average revenue per user, drop as people get rid of multi-screen plans and some of the people who have to sign up for their own plans get cheaper, possibly ad-supported, plans.)
I think there is no question that Netflix will see ARPU drop. What they are forgetting is the same thing that movie studios forgot for a while when trying to fight piracy: a person who truly values an item at $0 is not and will not ever be a paying customer. If the anti-piracy campaign makes things too inconvenient for the ACTUAL customers the revenue goes down, as some of those customers quit while no additional money is obtained from the pirates (who may stop pirating, but do not start paying).
I deliberately signed up for a higher category of streaming (four simultaneous streams) at Netflix than I need specifically show that my elderly father could share my account. That is not freeloading! There is zero chance that my father will sign up for his own Netflix account, and this development may convince me to cancel my own account, as frankly, I don’t stream very often and don’t want to have to keep logging in to my Netflix account every 30 days or be locked out of it. I think Netflix is creating bigger headaches for itself than it realizes.
I'm in the exact same position. I upgraded to the four simultaneous streams specifically so I could share two of said streams. What I get in return is access to Hulu and Youtube TV from my friends. We're sharing the costs and this has worked out well so far. Now, if Netflix (or others) implement such a system where they'll require 2FA or some crap, I'm A) going to down grade my subscription and B) probably not pick up any of the others.
yeeeeah I think this is exactly the sort of thing Netflix wants to stop
Probably, but I can attest they're getting more money from me now than they would if implemented. Especially since Netflix drops entire seasons out for binge watching, they'd only get a singular month or two of subscriptions from the others (i.e. whenever Stranger Things premiers) instead of the steady upper tier subscription I currently pay. Granted, I'm only one data point but I can't imagine I'm the only one?
At what point do these streaming services begin to merge and we just end up with Cable 2.0?
We don't media companies have staked out their territory. Disney won't merge, Comcast won't merge, Paramount won't merge. Streaming is just part of the portfolio of companies who own content, distribution, and studios. Hack analysts on Wall Street wish casting mean nothing. You will see fewer services but bigger ones only because the smaller/niche won't survive, not through mergers.