from the play-stupid-games-win-stupid-prizes dept
So we’ve famous various occasions that Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is a dumb cash grab. The corporate had already raised costs, it had already monetized the factor it was nervous about (it already expenses you further in order for you extra simultaneous streams), and its onerous 180 from encouraging password sharing to demonizing it turned off customers simply as streaming competitors heated up.
Not too surprisingly, prospects haven’t responded nicely to being nickel-and-dimed by an organization whose service high quality has taken a little bit of a dive, and have threatened to unsubscribe en masse. I’ve not but seen proof they really are but, however Netflix is clearly nervous that they’re about to.
The corporate introduced late final week it will be dropping prices in over 100 countries because it tries to fend off streaming rivals:
Netflix, going through extra competitors globally within the streaming wars, has reduce pricing in additional than 100 markets worldwide — in some instances, chopping the value of month-to-month plans in half — to spice up subscriber acquisition and retention.
Netflix first examined its dumb password sharing crackdown in lots of of those markets to disastrous impact. The thought wasn’t implemented particularly well, leaving many shoppers confused. Netflix itself admits that these confused and irritated prospects are doubtless eager on leaping over to streaming corporations that gained’t punish them for a observe the business itself spent a decade actively encouraging.
Netflix’s estimates on how a lot cash this password sharing crackdown will make them don’t appear based in reality. As Netflix has gotten bigger and extra highly effective, you’ll be able to see it behaving increasingly just like the MPA, Comcast, and different knowledge cherry-picking business giants, a stark distinction from its origins as an organization that fought on the best facet of points like internet neutrality.
That stated, I nonetheless assume most Netflix customers will have a tendency to stay round for now, given most customers are lazy, and the worth proposition of a service like Netflix stays higher (for now) than conventional, bloated and expensive cable TV bundles.
Nonetheless, the corporate’s stark character shift, from disruptive innovator that actually cared about healthy markets, to a different nickel-and-diming cable TV supplier, is notable and never going wherever quickly. There can be extra dumb choices to return as Netflix fixates completely on feeding Wall Avenue’s insatiable need for improved quarterly returns at any value; a one-time innovator doomed to be disrupted.
Filed Underneath: cable tv, competition, disruption, netflix, password sharing, streaming, video
Firms: netflix
