Password Sharing Not A Problem Says Netflix CEO (But Adds Family Plans Anyway)
Netflix posted its Q1 2013 financial data recently and the streaming media company had a very impressive quarter. Netflix made more than $1 billion in revenue during Q1 of 2013. The quarter marked the first time in the company's history that it had earned $1 billion in revenue. The company expects about $19 million in net income.
Along with racking up very impressive quarterly profits, Netflix also added a significant amount of new subscribers putting the company on target to reach 30 million subscribers in the United States this quarter. Netflix also announced a new option for users who have multiple people in the home who like to watch Netflix at the same time. Netflix announced that is also going to be instituting a new $12 per month family plan.
The new streaming family plan will allow users to stream Netflix to up to four devices at the same time within the same home. Currently the standard eight dollar per month plan for Netflix allows two simultaneous streams. However, in my own house of been able to stream to three devices at the same time on occasion without issues. Netflix doesn't expect a lot of people to jump on the new family plan stating that it expects less than 1% of its members to opt for that plan.
Some analysts have been calling for Netflix to crack down on account sharing. Reports indicate that as many as 10 million people are watching Netflix without paying for it by getting the password from friends or family members. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings isn't worried about password sharing, he says that Netflix doesn't believe there is much of that going on. However, Hastings does say that sharing passwords with extended family "[is] not what we would consider appropriate."
I think there will be a lot of families who will take advantage of the new family streaming plan, particularly since it's said to use personalized profiles. My daughter loves to watch Netflix and when she watches it's always movies about dogs or horses. That means when I log on to watch Netflix every single recommendation for me is a kid's movie based on what she watches. I would pay a few extra dollars per month to be able to watch what I want and get recommendations that are actually geared towards my tastes.
[via Gigaom and PaidContent]