After attacking account sharers, Netflix goes even further

Netflix has started phasing out the Basic subscription, a logical decision with costly consequences for you as a consumer. Canada is just the beginning.

Netflix also began cracking down on account sharers in the Netherlands in May. Sharing your password with your colleagues or your family who lives elsewhere is no longer possible. They are practically obliged to take out their own subscription. A decision that had been necessary for years, after numerous rumors and small-scale tests by the American company.

Netflix goes even further

Tests that are carried out among other places in Canada, a country that Netflix often uses as a testing ground for major changes, before they are deployed in the United States and the rest of the world. In other words, keeping an eye on Canada says a lot about what Dutch subscribers can expect in the future. A taste that doesn’t make me happy these days either.

After attacking account sharers, it seems that Netflix wants to go further to satisfy shareholders. The company announced in Canada that it would remove the cheapest subscription, the basic level. A subscription that costs $9.99 per month there.

Bye Basic subscription, hello more turnover

The how and why are easy to guess: consumers who want to take out a new subscription, for example because they can no longer use someone else’s password, now have to choose between an inexpensive subscription from $599 with advertising, or $16.49 for the regular subscription. Simply put, if you don’t want ads during your movie, the cheapest subscription option for Canadians is the Standard plan at $16.49. Phew!

The streaming service quietly made the switch this month. After several Canadian outlets picked up the news, Netflix only officially confirmed the news. Current Basic subscribers can continue streaming as usual, but new subscribers are the losers. Although they of course have the option of taking the cheap subscription with ads choice, an option which, according to co-CEO Greg Peters, is very popular: a quarter of all new subscribers worldwide opt for this subscription. The remaining three-quarters will now have to draw more from their pockets.

Now they are eliminating the base diet. I will have to pay 20 dollars instead of 11 in #netflix Canada. He will also come for you. I have been a subscriber for 15 years. That’s all for me. #cancelnetflix

— AB Neilly (@abneilly) June 24, 2023

And what about the Netherlands?

At least in Canada. But if the change pays off, Netflix will undoubtedly remove the Basic subscription in other countries. This is not some vague rumor or conspiracy theory: the pattern is clear and the new facts are concrete. There’s still a chance the change in strategy will produce lower growth numbers, but the streaming service won’t simply implement the decision.

In the Netherlands, this would mean that the 7.99 euro subscription will disappear, and new subscribers will have to pay 11.99 euros for the Standard subscription. The big difference with Canada is that the cheapest subscription with advertisements does not yet exist with us, but it is also only a matter of time.

Indirect effect

Don’t forget the indirect effect of terminating the Basic subscription: it makes current subscribers think twice before temporarily terminating their subscription because, for example, they stranger things have already seen. Canceling your subscription and coming back later becomes an expensive exercise if you lose your basic subscription forever. This makes temporarily switching to a competitor even less attractive.

Winnipeg Free Press