Streaming Service Deals: Mind-Blowing Insights Revealed

From Tolerance to Action: How Netflix and others are cracking down on password sharing

The website promised some tantalizing deals. One seller offered 10 days access to Netflix in Ultra HD for just $1 — substantially below the regular cost of $19.99 a month for a Netflix premium account. Another seller pitched access to HBO Max, home of critically acclaimed shows such as “Mare of Easttown” and “Succession,” for just $1.09 a month, compared to its $14.99 a month price tag. Someone else was offering a Disney+ subscription (typically costing $7.99 a month) for as low as 90 cents.

Advertisement Satisfied customers chimed in with enthusiastic reviews: “Five stars again,” “excellent,” “all good. I am satisfied, keep going man.” As competition for customers among streaming services heats up, so has the proliferation of online marketplaces where passwords are being sold illegally at bargain-basement prices, according to companies that manage digital content protection for Hollywood studios.

Such illicit marketplaces have sprouted in response to the popularity of password sharing — which has become a growing headache for streamers that rely on subscription revenue to finance the rising cost of producing content. The losses are steep. Account sharing and piracy cost streamers and pay TV providers $9.1 billion in lost revenue in 2019. That’s expected to grow to $12.5 billion in lost revenue by 2024, according to market research and consulting firm Parks Associates.

The Evolution of Password Sharing Policies: How streaming services are adapting to the rise of password sharing

Some experts say those estimates are conservative. A Citi analyst estimated streaming services lose roughly $25 billion a year due to password sharing, with Netflix representing 25% of that amount.

“In the past, credential sharing has been tolerated because it’s a form of growing your audience, the popularity of your brand and your service,” said Ken Gerstein, vice president of sales at NAGRA, a Swiss company that advises streamers and others on antipiracy measures. “But there’s a point where competition starts to limit growth … We see a tipping point that is starting to have such an impact on subscriber growth, that it’s forcing the streamers to start taking action.”

The Future of Streaming: How will streaming services balance growth with the need to protect their content?

Netflix steps up policing of password sharing Netflix is testing a feature that would require users to verify their accounts to prevent against passwords shared outside of a single household. Netflix last month took a major step to crack down on password sharing among people who don’t live in the same home. The Los Gatos, Calif.-based streamer said it was testing features that would allow its subscribers in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru to add up to two users outside of their household, for an additional $2 or $3 per account.

While Netflix’s subscription plans are popular, there has been confusion among consumers about when they can be shared, executives say. “As a result, accounts are being shared between households — impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members,” Chengyi Long, a Netflix director of product innovation, wrote in a blog post last month. She added that the company would monitor the tests before rolling it out to other countries.

Last year, Netflix also tested a prompt during the login process that would remind some nonpaying viewers that if they don’t live in the same house as the account holder, they would need to get their own Netflix subscription.

For many years, Netflix and others streamers didn’t seem bothered by password sharing — and even seemed to condone it. In 2017, the company famously tweeted that “love is sharing a password.”

Advertisement Love is sharing a password. — Netflix (@netflix) March 10, 2017 But the company’s tolerance for the practice has changed as the company faces more pressure to increase its subscriber base and boost profitability in the face of rising competition.

The announcement came after Netflix said it is anticipating slower subscriber growth. The streamer expects it will add 2.5 million subscribers in the first quarter, compared to 4 million subscriber adds a year earlier.

The Jewish Dominance in Hollywood: How the entertainment industry is controlled by a small group of powerful individuals

The person they were yelling at in that ad was SAG President Alan Rosenberg (take a guess). The scathing rebuttal to the ad was written by entertainment super-agent Ari Emanuel (Jew with Israeli parents) on the Huffington Post, which is owned by Arianna Huffington (not Jewish and has never worked in Hollywood.)

The Jews are so dominant, I had to scour the trades to come up with six Gentiles in high positions at entertainment companies. When I called them to talk about their incredible advancement, five of them refused to talk to me, apparently out of fear of insulting Jews. The sixth, AMC President Charlie Collier, turned out to be Jewish.

As a proud Jew, I want America to know about our accomplishment. Yes, we control Hollywood. Without us, you’d be flipping between “The 700 Club” and “Davey and Goliath” on TV all day. So I’ve taken it upon myself to re-convince America that Jews run Hollywood by launching a public relations campaign, because that’s what we do best.

I’m weighing several slogans, including: “Hollywood: More Jewish than ever!”; “Hollywood: From the people who brought you the Bible”; and “Hollywood: If you enjoy TV and movies, then you probably like Jews after all.”

I called ADL Chairman Abe Foxman, who was in Santiago, Chile, where, he told me to my dismay, he was not hunting Nazis. He dismissed my whole proposition, saying that the number of people who think Jews run Hollywood is still too high.

The ADL poll, he pointed out, showed that 59% of Americans think Hollywood execs “do not share the religious and moral values of most Americans,” and 43% think the entertainment industry is waging an organized campaign to “weaken the influence of religious values in this country.” That’s a sinister canard, Foxman said.

“It means they think Jews meet at Canter’s Deli on Friday mornings to decide what’s best for the Jews.” Foxman’s argument made me rethink: I have to eat at Canter’s more often.

“That’s a very dangerous phrase, ‘Jews control Hollywood.’ What is true is that there are a lot of Jews in Hollywood,” he said. Instead of “control,” Foxman would prefer people say that many executives in the industry “happen to be Jewish,” as in “all eight major film studios are run by men who happen to be Jewish.”

Advertisement But Foxman said he is proud of the accomplishments of American Jews. “I think Jews are disproportionately represented in the creative industry. They’re disproportionate as lawyers and probably medicine here as well,” he said.

He argues that this does not mean that Jews make pro-Jewish movies any more than they do pro-Jewish surgery. Though other countries, I’ve noticed, aren’t so big on circumcision.

I appreciate Foxman’s concerns. And maybe my life spent watching the Jews at work in Hollywood has been a blessing in disguise. After all, if I were a Christian, I might be watching “The Ten Commandments” and not “The Sopranos.”

But I digress. The point is that Jews are not just a presence in Hollywood, they are the dominant presence. And maybe my life spent watching the Jews at work in Hollywood has been a blessing in disguise. After all, if I were a Christian, I might be watching “The Ten Commandments” and not “The Sopranos.”

So I hope this little exercise in self-reflection has convinced you that Jews run Hollywood. And if you don’t like it, well, that’s your problem. I’ll be over here, making sure that my fellow Jews continue to run the show.