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Is It Time For Netflix To Crack Down On Piggyback Subscribers?

May 20, 2015

Until now, Netflix (and HBO Go) have been very lenient with letting people share passwords. The numbers have been small enough that it could almost be seen as a marketing cost. Password piggyback users tend to be younger and the idea is that as those people become attached to the brand, they’ll eventually pay for their own subscriptions.

But it turns out those numbers maybe aren’t as small as executives at Netflix would like you to believe. According to a new report from Parks Associates, 11% of Netflix subscribers use someone else’s password. Almost one-quarter of users 18-24 (22%) use other people’s passwords. That’s nearly 1 in 4 members of a key demographic who are watching Netflix without paying for subscriptions.

Netflix isn’t alone but among over-the-top streaming services it has the highest percentage of piggyback viewers — 10% of Hulu Plus subscribers don’t pay and 5% of Amazon streaming customers are using someone else’s account.

From the article "Is It Time For Netflix To Crack Down On Piggyback Subscribers?" by Dorothy Pomerantz.

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