Netflix’s problem isn’t password sharing, but its copycat shows

The real problem is, Netflix content is just not what it was

It’s natural that Team Netflix is panicking (REUTERS)

For the first time in more than 10 years, Netflix reported a loss of subscribers this week, shedding 200,000 accounts in the first three months of this year. The company has projected losses of a further 2 million subscribers throughout 2022. Its competitors – Disney, Amazon, Discovery, HBO etc – are snapping at its heels, offering lower prices and featuring shows in higher demand.

Though Netflix enjoyed a surge in popularity during the pandemic, the lifting of restrictions has seen customers tuning out quickly from the former leader of streaming.

By their own admission, Netflix have got themselves into a bit of a pickle. In its shareholder note, the company revealed that “sharing passwords between households likely helped fuel [their] growth by getting more people using and enjoying Netflix”. They went on to say that “[they have] always tried to make sharing within a member’s household easy, offering features like profiles and multiple streams”.

Admittedly, we have been living the good life up till now; dishing out our Netflix passwords willy-nilly to our partners, our family friends and that guy in the supermarket queue who looked quite nice. We’ve been capitalising on the good will of the benevolent streaming giant like the naughty citizens we are.

Now, the fun must stop. Enough is enough, says the company.

But acting the martyr for so long makes Netflix’s decision to revoke password sharing all the more jarring; like catching Father Christmas wrenching a new pogo stick from a child’s hands.

It’s natural that Team Netflix is panicking. And what better way to recoup some of those losses than to crackdown on subscribers sharing their passwords. Squirrelled away in Netflix HQ, experts have estimated that more than 100 million households worldwide are using a shared password to access its content. Now, after testing different ways to curb password sharing in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, Netflix is planning on rolling out its ways to clamp down. It means households across the globe could soon be charged an extra fee for password sharing.

But if Netflix thinks charging people extra to share passwords outside their homes will have viewers crawling back, cap in hand, they are sorely mistaken.

The truth is, Netflix content is just not what it was. Back in the mid Noughties, Netflix was revolutionising viewing: stacking up fresh film releases and TV series for subscribers in a never-before-seen format.

But now? The content, by and large, feels hammy and overcooked. There seems so much of it to sift through to find the gems, if there are, indeed, any lurking behind the preference algorithms.

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One particularly irate user on Reddit said Netflix “pumps out originals faster than babies take shits”. Other accused its “shows lacking in quality, a mostly Adam Sandler library and bad teenager oriented whitewashed content”.

Let’s not forget that “Diana: The Musical” was actually a film Netflix produced seriously in 2021; my favourite lyric: “Better than a Guinness, better than a wank / snatch a few pics, it’s money in the bank.”

So, the decision to revoke password sharing at this time feels odd. Netflix are already suffering from consumers cancelling their subscriptions and restarting them when they’ve found something they actually want to watch.

With the content reducing in quality, and the lure of password sharing no longer an attraction, Netflix may find their once plentiful pool of subscribers draining to a puddle.