Neighbourhood social network platform Nextdoor ran a poll recently that revealed things are looking bleak for Netflix, at least in Ontario.
The poll questioned Ontario residents whether they plan to cancel their Netflix subscription in response to the streamer’s full-swing crackdown on password sharing.
If you haven’t been keeping up with the recent changes at Netflix, here’s a quick rundown.
Netflix has informed Canadians that they need to set a ‘Primary Location‘ on their account by February 21st. This is how Netflix will know if anyone is using your account from a different location and I.P. address. The streamer wants passwords to be shared only between those living in the same house and not with people outside it. if you choose to share your password with users outside your household, you’ll need to pay an extra $7.99 per person.
The move subsequently led to searches for the term ‘Cancel Netflix’ skyrocketing, as revealed in Goole Search Trends.
According to Nextdoor’s poll, more than half of poll respondents from Ontario said they plan to cancel their Netflix subscription in response to the streamer’s crackdown. 57 percent, to be exact, said they wish to end their subscription, while 43 percent said they’ll be retaining it.
“For years Netflix’s big selling point was to share your subscription with family. We upgraded at extra cost so that more than 2 households (my kids) could watch at the same time. Now they are changing their rules and making it sound like we are the ones stealing. That is why I’m canceling my account. I think they have alienated a lot of people and it’s going to be their undoing,” said a Nextdoor user.
“I’m paying for five subscriptions. It shouldn’t matter if my daughters and grandsons are in my living room or theirs. I’m extremely tempted to cancel, but I guess I have to run it by my daughters first. Especially as they are now threatening to have ads. I can get that kind of service for free!”
“I would rather cancel my cogeco account as I watch Netflix more than any other programs,” wrote a user, while a different user said “I will be keeping mine. I actually called them to clarify some of the new policy cause the emails say that it’s based on the WiFi from the primary location. However my husband watches from his phone while on his dinner break at work, obviously not on our WiFi. Was told that any devices belonging to two primary locations just have to open and log in to the Netflix app while on the primary location WiFi once a month to have it recognized as a user/device.”
Nextdoor polled over 2,000 Ontarians, starting on Wednesday, February 15th. The stats mentioned above comprise data from February 15th, 16th and 17th. The poll will continue to run until Tuesday, February 21st.
Even MobileSyrup readers were unhappy about the change in Netflix’s policy. In a recent ‘Here’s how to set a primary location for your Netflix account‘ story we published, the way Canadians feel about the crackdown on password sharing was very evident.
It’s worth noting that Netflix has started cracking down on password sharing in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain only, and U.S. has been left unscathed. Though it appears that it’s only a matter of time before Netflix implements the rules south of the border.
If you’re looking to cancel your Netflix subscription as well, follow this link.
Image credit: Shutterstock
Source: Nextdoor
