The Days of Sharing Streaming Credentials May Be Coming to an End Thanks to Synamedia

Fact: a lot of people use Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services. Fact: a large handful of people share their credentials to save money. According to Magid (via CB), about 26% of millennials share their personal credentials for Netflix. This has the potential to result in about $11 billion of losses between pay-TV and Over the Top (OTT) revenues by 2021. Well, the days of sharing credentials may come to an end.

At CES 2019, Synamedia introduced some new technology called Synamedia Credentials Sharing Insight that is able to track down and flag accounts that are being shared. This A.I.-powered tech would then allow content services like Netflix and Hulu to then go through and better control how many people are able to use a singular account. The theory then is that people would then be able to use family plans instead which would cost more, but not run the same amount of risk when sharing with your family or friends. According to CB, the tech would be able to flag the suspicious/fraudulent activity, but it would also be able to flag the correct locations as being “safe.”

All in all, I read something like this and I go, “that makes sense, but it’s scaring me more and more what technology is capable of.” We’re really getting into some areas that warrant conversations before it becomes too late. What do you think about this new tech?