Netflix to cancel inactive members’ subscriptions

Netflix is going to cancel the membership of customers who have not used the platform in the past year.

The company will begin sending emails and in app notifications to remind such users about continuing with the platform. Users, who do not confirm they want to continue with Netflix, the company will automatically cancel their subscription. The same will be applicable for stopped watching content on Netflix for more than two years.

The move is unlikely to hurt Netflix’s userbase as the company claims such inactive accounts represent less than one percent of the total base. The company said that it has already factored these inactive “a few hundred thousand” accounts into its financial guidance. 

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“We’ve always thought it should be easy to sign up and to cancel. So, as always, anyone who cancels their account and then rejoins within 10 months will still have their favorites, profiles, viewing preferences and account details just as they left them. In the meantime, we hope this new approach saves people some hard earned cash,” wrote Eddy Vu, Product Innovation at Netflix, in a post.

Netflix’s decision to purge inactive accounts comes at a time when the company is facing new competition from cash-rich players such as Disney+ and Apple TV. WarnerMedia is also gearing up for the launch of HBO Max. Amazon already offers Prime Video which is part of the Prime subscription plans. In India, the likes of Alt Balaji and Zee5 have gained more presence. 

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That said, Netflix’s userbase has continued to increase in the last few months. The company beat quarterly estimates to report 15.77 million new paid subscribers in the first quarter of 2020. The total userbase has increased to 182.86 million.