People can’t quit Netflix at all

The terrifying Netflix password-sharing crackdown has begun in the United States, and in surprising news, the early numbers for the streaming giant aren’t bad. In fact, they’re good. Really good.

While the general social media sentiment from users seems to be “if I can’t use a shared password, I’m not watching anymore”, early numbers indicate that people may need the service more than they’re saying. .

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shortly after on both May 26 and May 27 Netflix Freeloaders began to take off in the US, with the service seeing over 100,000 new signups a day. Adding on to the two days that followed, the streamer saw its four biggest days of subscriber acquisition in more than four years – even bigger than the COVID-19 lockdown boon.

That data comes courtesy streaming analytics company antenna,

It’s worth noting that cancellations were actually higher than normal during this window as well, but incoming customers far outnumbered outgoing ones. Netflix noted a similar pattern of “few subscriber losses but big gains” in other markets where the crackdown was launched earlier this year, such as Canada, Spain, Portugal and New Zealand.

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While Netflix is ​​still the biggest name in the game, the password crackdown comes at a time when the giant is feeling the pressure in the crowdsourced streaming market.

Since its inception, Netflix has essentially turned a blind eye to the practice of password sharing, content with the fact that those who weren’t paying were still watching shows and proliferating the platform. But as that number soared upwards of 100 million households according to the company’s estimates, it was time for the streamer to chase down some of that lost revenue.

Users who still want to share their account with someone outside their household can officially add an additional viewer per account for $7.99 per month, about half the price of getting that person’s own membership.