As the pressure on streaming services to make money intensifies, a new “feature” has proliferated among a few popular options over the past couple of years. It started with Netflix in 2023, when it imposed restrictions that required users to update their household to confirm that their account wasn’t being used in multiple locations. Disney, HBO, and Peacock have all implemented the same feature in various capacities.
The whole “upgrade your home” system aims to ensure that the business generates the maximum revenue. When you select a new location as your home, your account stops working everywhere else, requiring you to pay for an additional user or subscription to use the app on multiple homes at once. Streaming companies wanted to capture potentially lost subscribers who were taking advantage of other people’s subscriptions. Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing worked spectacularly, with millions of people reportedly signing up after the password sharing ban was imposed.
From the individual companies’ perspective, this also allows them to reconfirm that the actual subscriber is using the service within their household. It’s not really explained in the help articles, but it doesn’t apply to mobile devices on the go. However, while companies always give reasons for this, ultimately it is about maximizing their profits.
There’s no secret: streamers just want more money
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Although Warner Bros., NBC, Disney and Netflix, among others, saw record users and profits, it was only a few years ago that stagnation hit subscriber bases. The numbers weren’t going down, but they weren’t going up either. As a result, especially among publicly traded companies offering streaming services, growth is one of the most important metrics.
It would be great to write about how Netflix or HBO Max do this to counter real consumer inconveniences, but there’s no such thing in this department. In a 2023 newsletter, technology analyst and public relations expert Ed Zitron called it a “rotten economy.” He highlights in a few thousand words that the relentless quest for growth actively harms consumers and businesses themselves.
This can be seen pretty much everywhere, outside of streaming services. Amazon has removed an old style of Prime membership, removing those who use the free delivery service outside of the original household. In recent days, AI companies have been switching their users to usage-based billing, rather than just charging a base subscription fee, as the actual costs of the software, as well as revenue generation, are now paramount for these companies.
