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Oh no, Netflix is going to change their subscriptions again

By Wieke Veenboer | #!30Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:30:03 +0200+02:000330#30Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:30:03 +0200+02:00-2Europe/Amsterdam3030Europe/Amsterdam202330 28pm30pm-30Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:30:03 +0200+02:002Europe/Amsterdam3030Europe/Amsterdam2023302023Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:30:03 +0200302306pmWednesday=9#!30Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:30:03 +0200+02:00Europe/Amsterdam6#06-28-2023#!30Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:30:03 +0200+02:000330#/30Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:30:03 +0200+02:00-2Europe/Amsterdam3030Europe/Amsterdam202330#!30Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:30:03 +0200+02:00Europe/Amsterdam6#

Netflix, we really need to talk. This is going completely in the wrong direction, and I fear that only intense relationship therapy can help us now. It all went wrong with the abolishment of ‘password sharing’, with which you wanted to punish non-paying users, but in practice, you ended up punishing the loyal, paying users. Clumsy action is an understatement here, and for a moment I hoped this decision would be reversed. But no... You are taking it a step further.

Netflix is currently testing a new subscription model in Canada, where the monthly payment is lower (which is nice), but you will get a lot of ads in between (which is not nice). If this proves to be a success, there is a good chance that the basic subscription will eventually disappear. In Canada, this is already the case: you can choose a basic subscription with ads or the expensive standard subscription. Besides the ads, there is another big difference: with the basic subscription, you can watch in HD quality, with ads it is SD quality. A bit less, therefore.

And now my problem: Netflix has already forced loyal users to get their own subscription because they stopped sharing (making it impossible to share different accounts if you do not form one household), but now they are forcing those same people to eventually switch to a subscription with ads. Hello, is everything okay over there?

I guess many people would rather pay a bit more and not see ads than pay a bit less (okay, in this case half) and then see ads. Or at least give people a choice.

Where is all this coming from? That is very obvious: money. Netflix wants to earn more money, especially since they lost quite a few subscribers last year. More streaming services are still coming, so the competition is tough... I do wonder if these new rules that Netflix keeps implementing will really lead to more users.