This article was published on July 14, 2017

Netflix is bleeding millions because you’re too cheap to get your own account


Netflix is bleeding millions because you’re too cheap to get your own account Image by: Joe / Flickr

According to an online poll conducted by Reuters this week, 12-percent of people who stream video content do so from someone else’s account — and that could be taking its toll on Netflix’s revenue.

The report says that 12-percent of adults admit to logging into a streaming service — Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, etc — using someone else’s credentials. The number rises to 21-percent for people aged 18-24.

Quartz uses that figure, the number of households which say they have Netflix (54-percent of American adults), and the price of a Netflix subscription to estimate that Netflix could be missing out on almost $400 million in revenue.

So what does that mean for those services? Reuters suggests password sharing could be responsible for a slow-down in Netflix’s revenue growth — analysts expect a drop from 31-percent to 19-percent by next year.

An analyst quoted by Reuters says Netflix could lose up to $519 million in revenue by 2019 to the same cause. If revenue drops any more, Netflix might have to crack down on password sharing.

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