Netflix does not pay a license fee per viewer. They generally negotiate multi-year deals that are priced in advance at fixed rates. Whether one person or a million people watch a show, Netflix pays the same licensing fees.

Plus, a Netflix membership is like a gym membership. Some users watch a lot more content (and cost more in terms of infrastructure) than others. Much like at a gym, all subscribers pay but only some cost as much as they pay. If a gym only charged people who showed up, the fees would need to be much higher.

If every subscriber cost more than they brought in, Netflix would have gone flat broke years ago. There is a reason shareholders wanted subscriber growth and got spooked when it slowed.