Netflix plans to cancel inactive membership accounts that have not been used in the past year.
The streamer stated that it will start rolling out this initiative by sending out emails and in-app notifications this week. It will reach out to inactive customers and ask if they would like to keep their subscription. If there's no response, Netflix will automatically cancel the account.
"We're asking everyone who has not watched anything on Netflix for a year since they joined to confirm they want to keep their membership. And we'll do the same for anyone who has stopped watching for more than two years,' Eddy Wu, director of product innovation, said in a statement.
This might seem like a surprising move as most companies are happy to let people keep paying for subscriptions even if they don't use them. Netflix, however, clearly isn't worried about this impacting its bottom line. According to CNBC, these inactive users make up less than half of one percent of the streamer's subscriptions. The company isn't hurting, despite a competitive market, and saw an increase in subscriptions with the global pandemic. At the end of their first quarter, Netflix reported 183 million subscribers.
The move to cancel inactive subscriptions might be another way for the streaming service to set itself apart from competitors like Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and the upcoming HBO Max.