Two weeks have passed since Netflix announced that it will have a new contracting modality. This basic plan, which will be available from November 10, will give access to the service for 5.45 euros per month, two and a half euros less than the cheapest rate that the company offered until now. The discount has a price: Be willing to put up with a few ads. Specifically, about four or five minutes per hour of programming. This fact, together with the imminent limitation on shared accounts (which will begin to be deployed at the beginning of next year), has unleashed the anger of users who until now enjoyed the service for a few euros or even for free. The general feeling is that this measure is going to be very expensive for the Los Gatos company. He seems to have everything against him: a difficult economic situation (which encourages saving and not spending), the (apparent) quality loss of its content offer and the existence of several platforms as an alternative, cheaper and less eager to touch the customer’s nose. Forcing us to decide between paying more or enduring advertising seems like a reckless decision.
It is surprising that such drastic measures are coming just now, after years turning a blind eye towards a practice that, although it did not generate any profit, allowed them to enter millions of homes around the planet. But Netflix is a business and, as such, lives by making money. And, with so many people watching his series and movies face to face, the accounts do not come out. Hence, the same people who used to encourage you to share your account with your friends now trust that the service is really important to you. How many? Enough to convince you to leave a few more euros a month or accept that they ‘sell’ you things while you watch ‘Stranger Things’ or ‘Emily in Paris’. And yes, without a doubt Netflix has become something everyday at home, but Does the customer really see it as a basic service?
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The decision of each one will depend on how much the bill goes up from what is being paid now. How will things be for those who shared sharing the fee with others? If they shared the standard plan with another person (two simultaneous reproductions at 12.99 euros per month) Netflix came out for 6.49 euros per month. And if they shared a premium plan with three other people (four simultaneous reproductions at 17.99 euros per month) the minute was 4.49 euros per month. What will happen when the limitation on sharing accounts outside the home goes into effect? That an ‘extra’ will have to be paid for each member outside the family unit who wants to get hooked on that account. According to pilot tests in other countries, it would be about 2.99 euros, which would raise the bill to 9.48 euros in the case of the standard plan or 7.48 euros per month for the premium plan. What goes up a lot? Netflix would have two cheaper options: contract a basic plan individually (7.99 euros/month without simultaneous playback with anyone) or the basic plan with ads, even more affordable (5.45 euros per month, also on a single device, but without the possibility of downloading offline content). In both cases, Netflix will allow you to transfer your profile from a shared account to a new account, in case you want to preserve your history and your lists.
For many of those who now watched Netflix in exchange for sharing another platform, for free or at a bargain price, the extra expense has been received as the final push to unsubscribe from a catalog that has languished over time, especially after the emergence of so many competitors. Or, at the very least, to hire him for just a few months a year. Netflix seems to trust that the perception of value that the user has of the service will tilt the balance in its favor, such as the user experience, its recommendation system, the dozens of releases per month and the countless programs that end up being hits and that everything the world ends up commenting. That and the certainty that no other service can replace it.