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Paying for Netflix But Not Watching? Company Wants You to Cancel

Netflix said that they’ll check if inactive members want the service and cancel their subscriptions if they don’t respond.

Paying for Netflix But Not Watching? Company Wants You to Cancel
The home screen for the Netflix Inc. Kids section is displayed on a laptop computer in New York, U.S. (Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- A time-honored tradition at subscription services -- hoping lapsed customers don’t realize they’re still paying every month -- is going away at Netflix Inc.

The company said on Thursday that it will check if inactive members want to keep the service -- and automatically cancel their subscriptions if they don’t respond.

“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,” Eddy Wu, who oversees product innovation, said in a blog post. “We’ll do the same for anyone who has stopped watching for more than two years. Members will start seeing these emails or in-app notifications this week.”

Losing the customers shouldn’t be a big hit for Netflix. Inactive accounts make up less than half of 1% of its subscriber base, or a few hundred thousand, Wu said.

That means the move could provide some relatively pain-free goodwill for Netflix -- and some anxiety for all the subscription services out there that are trying to lie low.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.