Netflix To Start Canceling Inactive Subscriptions
(CNN) -- Have you ignored your Netflix account since the first season of "House of Cards"? Well, you might want to stream something soon, or you could lose your subscription.
Netflix will start asking its inactive users if they want to keep their membership. If they don't want it, or if they don't respond, the company will automatically cancel their service, Netflix said on Thursday.
"You know that sinking feeling when you realize you signed up for something but haven't used it in ages?" Eddy Wu, Netflix's director of product innovation, said in a statement. "At Netflix, the last thing we want is people paying for something they're not using."
The company will be reaching out to everyone who has not watched "anything on Netflix for a year since they joined," Wu said. The company will do the same for anyone who has stopped watching for more than two years.
Netflix added it will start sending out emails or in app notifications this week.
Netflix noted the inactive accounts "represent less than half of one percent of our overall member base," or "only a few hundred thousand."
"We've always thought it should be easy to sign up and to cancel. So, as always, anyone who cancels their account and then rejoins within 10 months will still have their favorites, profiles, viewing preferences and account details just as they left them," Wu said. "In the meantime, we hope this new approach saves people some hard-earned cash."
Netflix is coming off one of its strongest quarters ever, which saw its subscriber base surge as the coronavirus pandemic forced people to stay at home. The company added 16 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2020, which blew past its own forecasts.
The streaming company has 183 million subscribers worldwide.
The-CNN-Wire
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