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Many people thought that Netflix’s recent decision to abolish password-sharing would be a disaster — or at least, this is perhaps what they were hoping for, as this would have possibly led to the streaming service reverting the controversial decision to end password-sharing. But unfortunately, the opposite has happened. In the U.S., the password-sharing crackdown has proven to be successful with an increase in new subscribers.
Now, according to the UK newspaper The Times, Netflix will reveal its latest numbers this week and it’s expected to report a further increase in subscribers, giving more evidence that the password-sharing policy, though unpopular, was successful (via TechRadar). Apparently, analysts expect the streaming service to report an increase of 1.8 million new subscribers in the last financial quarter. This will reportedly take the total number of paying subscribers to over 234 million people.
This means that the decision Netflix made to end password-sharing was apparently successful
This anticipated increase is in stark contrast to a year ago when Netflix announced its first decline in the number of subscribers in well over a decade. The service notably lost almost a million subscribers, which put a dent in Wall Street’s confidence in Hollywood pivoting from cinemas to streaming.
Amid its financial losses, Netflix hunkered down on password-sharing to prevent multiple users sharing accounts and the streaming platform losing even more money. After announcing its decision, Netflix garnered much controversy and the service warned its investors about a possible “cancel reaction.”
But it seems like the opposite is happening as the crackdown on password-sharing is proving to be successful. In addition to the anticipated increase this week, Bloomberg Second Measure — which tracks streaming services — reported a 236% increase in new subscribers between May 21 and June 18 of this year. Another analytics company, Antenna, reported in early June that “Netflix has had the 4 single largest days of US user acquisition in the 4.5 years that [the company] has been measuring the streaming service.”
Despite these increases in Netflix’s subscriber base, it’s also important to consider how they compare to the number of users who have cancelled their subscription as result of the great purge on password-sharing.
What’s also interesting is how these numbers will fare with Netflix’s latest policies, such as its latest decision to drop its basic ad-free plan for Canadian users. Either way, if there’s anything that the success of Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown tells us, it’s that the platform’s most controversial moves may end up being its most successful moves. As the service presses to stay relevant in the streaming wars, users are the most impacted.