Is a VPN crackdown behind Netflix’s drop in user growth?

Netflix has seen slower than anticipated user growth in its most recent forecast, but why is this the case?

If you ask the streaming service, it’s largely due to many subscribers being “ungrandfathered” (moved to the new price plans).

However, NordVPN has a slightly different take on the issue…

The VPN service cited feedback from its customers, revealing three big trends behind recent Netflix and VPN usage.

The first trend was that people are unsubscribing from Netflix rather than from their VPN service, saying the customers chose “privacy over streaming”.

In a March 2016 blog post, NordVPN explained why people might drop Netflix instead.

“Netflix is now in 190 countries, many of which have intrusive state internet surveillance, mass internet censorship, or no net neutrality protections — issues that internet users can mitigate with VPNs,” it wrote at the time.

Better alternatives?

A second trend was that people were reverting to P2P sharing to find content. NordVPN said that P2P file sharing was starting to “quiet down” thanks to people using VPNs to watch Netflix instead.

Due to Netflix cracking down on VPN usage, people are going back to the old method of P2P sharing, NordVPN explained.

Finally, the VPN service provider said that local streaming providers and international rivals are winning over users.

“People are choosing their local streaming services or other providers, such as Hulu or Amazon Prime. For example, Australia’s local Stan and Presto providers have been growing, while Australian Netflix has been losing subscribers. Hulu, Amazon Prime and multiple smaller streaming providers have also seen an increase in users in the past quarter.”