Survey reveals how Germans use services offered by Netflix

BERLIN – Free-riding on internet streaming service is on the decline in Germany, according to a new survey conducted by the Burda publishing house and released on Monday.

Free-riding on streaming services occurs when one person pays for a service, but then gives out their logon information to others, meaning many people can watch a provider’s offerings but only one pays.

Netflix in particular is attempting to combat the practice, by making free-riders pay for their own account or making subscribers pay for an additional member on their account.

The Screens in Motion survey deliberately did not ask those surveyed which services they were using. It asked more than 1,100 users whether they shared an account with people outside their household and found that 34% did so, some seven percentage points down on the year.

“So things are changing,” said Marion Sperlich, who ran the survey for Burda, one of Germany’s largest media companies, in comments made to dpa in Berlin.

“At the same time, the decline among young people, who perhaps need it more financially, is down only three percentage points to 50%,” Sperlich added. The figure refers to respondents under the age of 30.

Providers, who have been seeking to combat sharing, could profitably target this group, Sperlich said.

Most of the people questioned answered the survey, Sperlich said, as just 2% of respondents clicked the option of providing no answer.