If you were one of the many people on social media (or in real life) who predicted doom and gloom for the world's most popular video streaming platform after it effectively outlawed what had turned into a global password sharing phenomenon, prepare to be disappointed by the latest Antenna report.
This is an analytics firm that's been keeping an eye on various types of Netflix data and numbers (among others) for the last four and a half years, and believe it or not, the service recently had its four best days of that entire period in at least one key department.
Now, it could be a coincidence that US Netflix sign-ups absolutely exploded shortly after the password sharing crackdown began in earnest in many countries around the world, but, well, that's almost certainly not the case.
Instead, hundreds of thousands of "moochers" probably opted to create their own accounts rather than lose access to hit shows like "Beef", "FUBAR", and "The Night Agent" when facing the impossible choice.
According to Antenna, daily sign-ups jumped an incredible 102 percent from an unspecified 60-day average preceding the password sharing ban to "nearly" 100,000 on both May 26 and May 27.
That's a mind-blowing figure unrivaled even by Netflix's early pandemic peaks from March and April 2020, and before you ask, cancellation counts were much lower on the same dates. Higher than the pre-password sharing ban average, of course, but low enough to guarantee decent net gains in the overall subscriber tally.
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While we are only talking about a few days and this is unofficial data, Netflix is likely to proclaim its universally hated password policy change as a financial win at its next official quarterly report release. Love it or hate it, the move makes perfect sense from a business standpoint, and despite a lot of mostly anecdotal evidence to the contrary, it could result in long-term subscriber additions as well.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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