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Over 90% of College Students Today Regularly Use Netflix, But Only 34% Are Actually Paying For Their Own Account (streamingobserver.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the college-life dept.

According to a new survey from LendEDU, more than 90% of today's college students have access to a Netflix account they regularly use, while only 8% who responded to the survey said they don't have a Netflix account. What some may find even more surprising is that of the 90% of students who have access to Netflix, only 34% of them are actually paying for their own Netflix account. Streaming Observer News reports: That actually goes right in line with numbers from Piper Jaffray that showed almost 40% of teens watch Netflix every single day. Their closest competitors, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu, each came in at just 3% each for daily use. Of course, that doesn't mean they're all paying for Netflix. 54% of respondents to LendEDU's survey said they use a family member's or friend's account, and 5% more said they used a boyfriend/girlfriend or ex's account. While only 34% of college students are actually paying for their own Netflix account, that's apparently not too big of a concern for Netflix, who has taken a relatively lax attitude towards password sharing in recent years.

9 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Yawn by Aighearach · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That, and also the whole premise seems a bit confused. They're talking about password sharing while at the same time talking about roommates with shared media equipment, bf/gf who are most likely watching it together or on a shared device, etc.

    The nature of netflix is more something that is per-household than per-person.

  2. Math is about right by Spy+Handler · · Score: 2

    Netflix allows 3 simultaneous logins per account, so theoretically you could have 90% of college students using Netflix and only 30% paying for it.

    I'm guessing the 34% figure comes from the 4% loners who don't have any friends and still wanna watch Netflix so they pay for their own account.

    1. Re:Math is about right by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Hmm, I'd have assumed most of the students were using their parents' account....

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    2. Re: Math is about right by ninthbit · · Score: 2

      Right!! They probably don't have their own cell phone plan either. The 90% userbase should be all they care about. That's a ton of kids who will grow up and get account for themselves.

    3. Re:Math is about right by markdavis · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >Why is UHD useless? do they just not have any offering?

      Because at any normal distance on any TV, almost nobody can realize any difference with 4K. Also, a large percent of people don't have the bandwidth (25+Mb/s *continuously*). HDR is a different matter, but even that can't be noticed by most people, and few have devices that support it.

  3. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act... by matbury6017 · · Score: 2

    Sharing passwords/login credentials? I thought that sharing online passwords is a crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (1986): https://motherboard.vice.com/e...

  4. Dorms. by jxander · · Score: 2

    Aren't many college students living in dorms, frat/sorority houses, or other shared space?

    Makes sense that one roommate would have the Netflix account, and they all could use it. Wouldn't even require simultaneous logins, if the player was in the shared living room.

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  5. Re: Yawn by jxander · · Score: 2
    Exactly.

    My wife and kid use my Netflix account (the freeloaders) because we all live in the same house.

    That puts us right in line with the article. Three users, one account.

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  6. Thats. How. It. Works. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's seriously like the journalists that talk this up have never actually used Netflix.

    You are literally paying to be allowed to do this. They have different pricing tiers with a different number of simultaneous screens allowed. They're not "turning a blind eye", they're providing the service they sold.

    If you try to have more people watching on your account simultaneously than you have paid for then it doesn't let you. It's simple. I don't know why journalists have so much trouble with this idea...