Streaming giant Netflix is taking a different and sensible approach, offering to cancel the subscription of those who have not used the on-demand video streaming service in a year or more.
The move is deemed rather unusual among companies that charge a monthly or annual subscription, as they will squeeze a monthly payment out of you until the end of time, whether you are still using their service or not.
Netflix has started to notify customers who have not watched anything on the platform in 12 months after subscribing to check if they wish to keep their membership.
“We’re asking everyone who has not watched anything on Netflix for a year since they joined to confirm they want to keep their membership. And we’ll do the same for anyone who has stopped watching for more than two years,” Eddy Wu, director of product innovation, said in a statement.
Inactive members will receive feature rollouts in their app notifications or emails in the coming weeks, if they ignore the message then Netflix will cancel their membership on their behalf and if they answer ‘yes’ their membership will be kept active even though they don’t watch/use the streaming service.
The streaming service also said that its inactive accounts represent less than half of one percent of its overall member base and are already factored into its financial guidance. The company saw a huge uptick in subscribers in the past months, as many people are staying at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.
All is not lost as those who wish to rejoin within 10 months will still have their favourite profiles and viewing preferences. Account details will be left untouched just as users left them. Netflix hopes the new approach will save people some money.