Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has indicated that it will cancel the membership of subscribers that have not been active for a year on their media streaming platform. The company indicated that5 it will first ask the inactive customers if they wished to keep their subscription, and if they don’t get a response, they will proceed to cancel their subscription.
Netflix doesn’t want people to pay for service they aren’t using
Since becoming subscribers, the company has already started sending notifications to customers that have not watched any content on the streaming platform in the last 12 months. They want to ascertain if they would wish to maintain their membership or not. Similarly, Netflix is also reaching customers that have not steamed any content in over two years.
The company indicated it may not want people to continue paying for the service, yet they are not using it. Usually, most companies will take advantage and continue billing customers and draw from their accounts endlessly without caring.
Inactive accounts are around 0.5%
For Netflix, the inactive accounts, usually referred to as zombie accounts, represent only a small percentage of its subscribers. The number is less than 0.5% of the company’s total user base, and this is a factor that Netflix has been considering in its financial guidance.
At the end of the first quarter of 2020, the company’s video streaming service had over 182 million subscribers. Netflix indicates that it is ease for subscribers with canceled accounts to come re-join the service if they wish to return. Most interestingly subscribers that will come back to the platform before a ten-month lapse will still enjoy their viewing preferences, favorites, profiles, and the details of the deactivated accounts.
Eddy Wu, the company’s Product Innovation director, indicated that they hope that the move will help people save some cash for now. Wu stated that the inactive subscribers will begin seeing emails or app notifications beginning this week to confirm they want to keep their subscription.
