Videoland, the Dutch streaming site owned by RTL, plans to curb account sharing among its users in the long term. It’s estimated that around 30% of Videoland subscribers share their account details with a third party.
In an interview with NU.nl, Ellen van den Berghe, chief marketing officer at RTL, stated that the company is closely monitoring how the problem is being tackled by competitors. “We are currently watching Netflix and Disney+ with interest to see how they are tackling this. We are still in the research phase in this regard. It may seem easy, but it is a technically complex process to prevent account sharing. Of course, we do not want our subscribers who do not share their account, but for example watch from different locations on holiday, to be affected by our measures.”
Van den Berghe emphasized the need for greater awareness among subscribers about the importance of having their own accounts, highlighting the costs of producing and acquiring content. “If you go to the cinema for an evening these days, you are already spending 12 to 16 euros per person. It is extremely expensive to invest in content.”
She added that around 40% of Videoland's 1.5 million subscribers currently subscribe to the cheaper ad-supported tier.