Netflix Is on the Hunt for Zombie Accounts – Barron’s

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You have to give credit to Netflix for this one.

In a blog post Thursday, the giant of streaming video said it has begun reaching out to subscribers who joined Netflix (ticker: NFLX) and then never watched anything to ask them if they want to keep their membershipand it will do the same for anyone who has stopped watching for more than two years.

If they dont confirm they want to keep subscribing, well automatically cancel their subscription, the company said.

Netflix said the inactive accounts represent less than half of 1% of the overall member baseonly a few hundred thousand membersand are already factored into financial guidance.

Weve always thought it should be easy to sign up and to cancel, the company said 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. Meanwhile, we hope this new approach saves people some hard-earned cash.

Netflix added 15.8 million net new subscribers in the March quarter, boosting total subscribers to 182.9 million.

You have to wonder if Netflix will start a trend. Magazines received but not read. Gym memberships paid for but barely used. You dont still have a dial-up AOL account, do you?

Netflix stock on Friday were off 0.7% to $433.13.

Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com

Excerpt from:
Netflix Is on the Hunt for Zombie Accounts - Barron's

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero