Why a Password-Sharing Crackdown Won’t Help Netflix Much

I’m confused why Netflix has spent months and months essentially threatening their customers instead of quietly implementing the changes they need and then quietly rolling them out.

I read someone else comment one time that Netflix is one of those services that’s best when the customer doesn’t think about it too much. So why tell the customer over and over again that they are going to “crackdown”?

Password sharing is similar to pirating content. People that do it do it because it's free but are very unlikely to pay for it. The idea that netflix will turn those people into customers is wishful thinking. What will happen is that most of those people will start to pirate the content or will not bother with it at all. Even if by some chance they will pay for it they will subscribe for a month, watch what they want and close the account. Their best bet to increase revenue is to add ads and lower costs to a point where it's a no brainer to keep the account active.

Eventually they will need to sell the service by chunks. Where the user get's a discount if they subscribe for a year. They will need to mirror the wireless industry's method of earning profits. The easy earnings for Netflix are over.

I see this backfiring in their face. I doubt the people who aren't paying for Netflix will respond to them cracking down on password sharing by opting to pay for their own Netflix.

This is the beginning of the end for streaming services. It was good while it lasted.