A third of Netflix subscribers are sharing their accounts: study

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More and more people are subscribing to Netflix, but not everyone who subscribes is a paying customer, according to the results of a new study.

The percentage of Canadians who subscribe to Netflix grew to 44% in 2016, up from 41% the year before, but many of those viewers are watching the service for free, according to the research conducted by Media Technology Monitor (MTM) for CBC/Radio Canada.

“With a growing amount of original content, Netflix continues to show subscription growth in both the English and French markets,” MTM said in a press release.

“But not everyone is paying for their own subscriptions; nearly three in 10 Netflix subscribers report that they share their Netflix password with someone outside of their home.”

The study also looked at Canadians’ usage of virtual reality (VR). MTM found that many Canadians have tried VR in the past year, but adoption of the technology has been slow.

“Companies are bringing virtual reality to the mainstream, and interactions with the technology reflect that,” MTM said. “Over the past year, one tenth of Canadians have tried a VR headset.

“But the retail market for VR headsets is still in its infancy; just 2% of Canadians own one.”

The top two VR headset brands are Google Cardboard and the Samsung Gear VR.

ecrawford@biv.com

@EmmaHampelBIV