Many factors have decreed today's dominance of Netflix on the world of streaming. The ease of use, the richness of the catalog, the disproportionate amount of original films and TV series, the perfect management of the internet connection. Pieces of a puzzle perfectly stuck one on top of the other to which one cannot add one of the factors that pushed the spread of the platform the most: the possibility of using the service simultaneously and on different profiles.
Two sides of the same coin that gave birth to the phenomenon of account sharing between multiple people. With a single subscription, you can get from a minimum of two visions simultaneously to a maximum of four, making sharing almost unlimited if you can make sure that the uses are not simultaneous. A practice that has made the company "user friendly" but which now seems no longer to be viewed favorably by the same leaders.
Struggle without neighborhood
Competition in the world of streaming has become very strong lately. Prime Videos is becoming an increasingly consolidated reality, AppleTV + is starting to emerge and Disney + is preparing to catalyze all the attention on itself. Three rivals of a certain weight who have already made their blows well felt on the hitherto unassailable domination of the king of all platforms. Netflix feels threatened and, in some way, has a great desire to find the most suitable countermeasures to stop in advance a bleeding of users and earnings that could arrive.
New subscription plans, new content, but also choices that will have to somehow maximize what you already have. In this sense, numerous aspects of the platform have long been under the observation lens of the top management, to understand what may be worth keeping and what needs to be changed, to find a much needed stability in view of the neighborhoodless fights that will begin in the next years.
"Infinite" sharing
Sharing accounts has been one of Netflix's prerogatives from the beginning, one of those possibilities that have always made a difference over everything else. The password sharing it has been a well established habit from the beginning among the subscribers who, especially with the subscription of the Premium subscription, have the possibility of concretely sharing their subscription with three other people. The family plan, in a sense, it has become something more, a way to share, with friends, acquaintances or strangers found on the internet, the cost of the subscription, having access to the same catalog but spending a quarter compared to normal.
The estimates in this sense are very clear: beyond the 10% of active users divide the cost of their subscription with other members. The practice has also been "favored" by the top management, who have always looked favorably on all this: on the one hand it improved the general perception of the company by users, seen from the outset as a safe and permissive beach to land on, on the other, it gave Netflix a strong hand in spreading its brand around the world. A gain transversal of no small importance, however, which is probably becoming counterproductive today.
Major losses
According to research from Park Associates, in 2019, sharing accounts cost Netflix a loss of approximately $ 9 billion. A hole of no small importance destined to increase over the years. In 2024 it could even get to 12.5 billion dollars. The company therefore finds a hot potato in his hands difficult to cool. Leaving everything as it is seems an unsustainable solution from an economic point of view, but changing your policy overnight would create a image damage even bigger.
How would users react if from one day to the next they were prevented from practicing one of the platform's must-haves from the start? For this reason, various types of actions are being studied, palliative to ensure that, if a decision should be made, it is perceived as soft as possible. What is certain is that something will be done. The negative aspects of this practice, in fact, seem to have exceeded the critical threshold, becoming much more preponderant than the positive ones.
What will happen?
Netflix is perceived by users as a friendly company, close to users and their problems and needs. A reality free of constraints, easy to share with friends, modern and with a relatively low cost. A general perception that made the fortune and the success of the platform. Yet the settlement terms are clear: account usage is referred to as strictly personal and best shared with family members. The exceptions to the rule have been tolerated, but now new security measures could be implemented to avoid further and harmful degenerations.
The phenomenon could thus be somewhat attenuated, by using solutions that continue to allow sharing but which, at the same time, avoid its diffusion on a larger scale. Share the account with a distant friend, outside of our family circle, it seems to be a practice destined to disappear, for the sake of all those who have always used it.
What solutions?
The possible arrival of new low cost plans could make the subscription even more accessible, offering everything at a cost equal to that of the division of a larger subscription. Also stem the phenomenon in the bud, preventing the sharing in its entirety, it does not seem a viable action, just as it would be problematic to monitor the position and block accounts geographically too far from the position of one's home.
Other solutions could be represented by the registration of a limited number of devices per account, but even here you would lose something in the flexibility and freedom that have always characterized Netflix. Problems that are not easy to solve in a world of streaming that runs fast and becomes increasingly fierce and fierce. Netflix cannot afford to stop and not even lose part of its very strong and spotless image.
Something will have to change but it must be as soft and gentle as possible or at least be counterbalanced with a truly important offer, something that could overshadow this possible renunciation. With more and more actors ready to have their say, many things are destined to change and perhaps we too should start to deal with different habits.
