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Comment by OkGoDoIt | Hacker News Reader

I thought Netflix and related services work the same way Spotify does: they pay content providers a small fee based on actual content viewing. If you pay Netflix a monthly subscription but never view any content on your account, I would assume Netflix keeps all of the revenue and doesn't pay out anything to the actual content providers. Just a guess, but it's possible your plan is backfiring by paying the company you don't want to support (since Netflix is the one implementing the tracking) instead of the companies you do (that actually create the content you like).

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> your plan is backfiring by paying the company you don't want to support (since Netflix is the one implementing the tracking) instead of the companies you do (that actually create the content you like).

TBH, that's for too deep for my moral calculus. The only things I view/pirate from Netflix are Netflix original series and PBS documentaries/educational programs. I'm paying the former directly and the latter isn't really out to maximize profit but to enlighten and educate and it's somewhat supported by my tax dollars.

No - as a general rule, Netflix pays a fixed royalty for the content that they license from third parties, regardless of how many people watch it. This is why the quality of their predictive models is so important; the better they can forecast, the better they can determine whether the price they would have to pay is worth it.

(Of course, the royalty is different for every piece of content, but the amount is negotiated ahead of time; it is not on a per-usage basis.)

This is different from iTunes movies, Amazon (non-Prime) Video, Vudu, Google Play, etc., which license on a revenue share basis.

Actually no, in contrast to Spotify, they generally secure licenses for content for a flat fee and a 1-3 year time frame. It doesn't matter how much content is actually viewed, other than Netflix deciding whether it's worth trying to renew or not.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/062515/how-ne...

Spotify, at least, pools all payments before paying royalties.

So his strategy does increase royalty payments, but doesn't "vote" for who should receive those royalties.

Netflix also makes a lot of their own content. If he is pirating that content, then it's fair.

I think Netflix greenlights 3rd party content creator's projects, I'm not sure they have much if any in-house production.

Those deals probably include some combination of up-front payment as well as per-view payment.

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