Netflix, Disney + and Prime Video: Many share the subscription costs with others

In Germany it is very popular to share the costs of streaming subscriptions with others. This resulted in a representative survey by the digital association Bitkom. The majority of respondents – 69 percent – said they shared the cost of a video streaming subscription with others. 17 percent share a subscription with others, but don’t have to pay anything for it.

Just 28 percent of those surveyed stated that they subscribed to the costs of video streaming in full. In October 2019, Netflix announced it would do something about it if the cost of a Netflix account was shared with people outside of your home. Since then, however, there have been no further details and it is not known whether anything has been done on a larger scale here.

Up to four people can share a Netflix account and the costs involved. This means they have to pay significantly less for Netflix content and Netflix earns less. Sharing a Netflix account is actually only allowed within one household. At the time, Netflix announced that it was working on a customer-friendly solution.

Average cost for video stream subscription is 17 euros

In a representative survey, Bitkom interviewed 1,004 people over the age of 16 over the phone about their consumption of paid video streaming. 53 percent of those questioned said that they regularly watched films and series on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney +, Sky Ticket or Apple TV +. A year ago, this proportion was 42 percent.

If you subscribe to video streaming services, you currently pay an average of 17 euros per month. None of the subscriptions available in Germany costs 17 euros or more. This suggests that many pay for more than one subscription a month.

The Bitkom survey shows that especially younger people use paid video streaming. 63 percent of those aged 16 to 29 said they occasionally consume series and films via paid services. In the age group from 30 to 49 years the share was 55 percent, in the 50 to 64 year olds 51 percent and in the over 65 year olds 32 percent.

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