"Our experience is, it all leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising… If you go around the world, I think you’re right, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. Well, you know, that’s better than an Emmy." - Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/04/15/game-of-t...
Would Netflix users pay an extra $5/user/month to give valid legal credentials to their friends? Your reasoning, that pirates pay extra versus non-pirates, implies yes - but upthread given the attempt to justify pirating one or another service based on cost of service and value perceived for that cost, I seem correct to think otherwise.
I would buy a Netflix sub for a year for someone with a gift card before I would share my credentials, because I want Netflix to continue existing, and if everyone gave away credentials instead of buying gift subs, that’s much less likely to happen.
(ps. “Sharing Netflix credentials isn’t pirating”: Incorrect. It’s not torrenting. Historical usage of “pirating” as in “pirating cable TV pay channels through splices and illegal decoders” had nothing to do with recording it and sharing recordings. I see no case made that Netflix credentials sharing is any different than buying an illegal Showtime decoder box, nor its impact on revenue.)
It's definitely getting into a gray area. If I own a DVD, I can loan it to a friend legally. I can also invite a bunch of friends over and show it to them. I can even make a copy for my own use, like a backup or format-shifting. Sharing credentials doesn't violate copyright as far as I can tell, it's just a ToS thing.
Multiple studies in various countries have shown that pirates tend to spend much more on content than non-pirates. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evkmz7/study-again-shows-...