Bad news for streaming fans! Adobe has developed a solution called Primetime Account IQ to combat account sharing. A device that could be of particular interest to Netflix …
Account sharing is very practical for streaming enthusiasts, especially with the proliferation of video-on-demand (SVOD) service platforms, each of which offers exclusive content. Whether it’s whole families who share their account among their members – including those who don’t live under the same roof – or friends who pool services – each paying a subscription to a different platform -, very Many consumers resort to this practice which allows them to save on the price of subscriptions – especially in this period of generalized inflation, where several platforms such as Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video have increased their prices. A study also reveals that 40% of Americans admit to using the streaming account of someone close to them. However, this practice causes the platforms to lose a lot of money, which have more or less tolerated it so far. And it could well be coming to an end, since Adobe has just developed a system for detecting shared identifiers, which it offers to streaming giants.
An Adobe tool against account sharing
In a blog post, Adobe offers to monitor user behavior with a new tool. This service, dubbed Primetime Account IQ, is powered by Adobe Sensei, Adobe’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. It makes it possible to understand the habits of use of subscribers and thus know if and when account sharing takes place. Then, it is a question of discovering the best action to take, anticipating the positive and negative repercussions – no question of losing even more users. The purpose of any action to prevent account sharing – such as aggressive identification requests or two-factor authentication on every use – is above all not to irritate the person paying the bill. For Adobe, since every user is different, any action taken against an account should be part of a data-driven strategy designed to “measure, manage and monetize” password sharing. And that’s where Primetime Account IQ comes in.
Thanks to him, Adobe will know more – en theory – on a streaming account than the people who use it, which will allow the company to predict the most effective course of action without annoying the account owner. The tool will generate a large collection of data to obtain the probability of sharing and a classification of the modes of use which will make it possible to identify travelers, commuters, family, close friends, and even the existence of a second home – because there is no question of not being able to use SVOD service while on the move.
Soon the end of Netflix account sharing?
One of Adobe’s future customers could be nothing less than Netflix, since it’s the platform that suffers the most from credential sharing. It must be said that it faces stiff competition from SVOD platforms like Disney + and Amazon Prime Video. Between January and April 2022 alone, it suffered from 200,000 unsubscribes. To continue making a profit, Netflix is steadily raising its prices and is currently investigating a new business model that would end account sharing and include ads. This summer, he also tested paid account sharing in Latin America: if the platform detects a connection from an unknown location, it asks the subscriber to pay an additional sum. But the end of this practice must be carried out intelligently so as not to have the opposite effect to that expected.
Because one of the disadvantages of Netflix is that it is very expensive. Currently, it offers three subscriptions: the Essential at €8.99/month allows simultaneous use of a screen with standard image quality; the Standard at €13.49/month, two screens simultaneously with HD rendering (1,280p x 720p): and the Premium at €17.99/month, four screens simultaneously with HD image quality and in 4K (3840p x 2160p). To For comparison, Disney+ offers a subscription at €8.99/month, and Amazon Prime Video at €6.99/month – while offering many services on the side. What make you want to go for the competition! Moreover, if binge watching has made Netflix famous, it is starting to play tricks on it. Unlike Disney+ and Amazon Prime, which broadcast their series with one episode per week – which forces the user to stay to find out what’s next, so to find something else to watch in the meantime, and so on –, Netflix airs all of its episodes at once. In the end, this created a huge audience peak, but the series quickly fell into oblivion. Just look at the example of Stranger Things, with a three-year wait between seasons 3 and 4, before crashing the platform when the rest of the adventures were broadcast. It remains to be seen how Netflix will adapt to changes in consumption.