You’ve all seen the ads round the internet. “Using a VPN can unlock content on Netflix” by tricking the service into thinking you reside somewhere you don’t. In recent years (and just over the past few days) that’s been made much harder to try to to . Here’s a 2021 guide to using VPNs with Netflix and why it’s almost never worth some time We publish this post as Netflix introduces even more crackdowns on VPN users. Over the past few days, VPNs are severely limited (we know because we use them for doing our jobs) with further restrictions being placed on users It’s been a cat and mouse game for years with Netflix and VPN services but in August 2021, Reddit and social media were filled with users reporting that their VPNs were not working or more to the purpose , they can’t do what they intended to originally do with the VPN Help articles on VPN sites also reveal this is often an ongoing and growing problem.
This isn’t a replacement trend. Netflix has made its position clear on VPNs for years. it had been back in January 2016 when David Fullagar announced that they were clamping down on VPNs and proxies but said that “technology continues to evolve and that we are evolving with it”.
This evolution now seems to be, consistent with the Netflix Help Article, not blocking you from watching content but rather severely restrict what content you see with only global Netflix Original titles typically displayed.
Why VPNs might not be necessary for Netflix in future years
Of course, the large reason people still use VPNs is to access content that’s licensed to individual countries. Every region of Netflix remains very different with examples being Manifest only being on Netflix US & CA as an example .
Long term the necessity for VPNs for Netflix will slowly melt away (we’re talking 5-10 years here). Netflix’s general content strategy as you’re probably cognizant is investing in Netflix Originals and most of these it releases globally. Eventually, we suspect that the majority Netflix libraries round the world will look pretty similar (like how Disney+ has broadly an equivalent lineup in every region).
We don’t want to downplay the utilization of VPNs entirely, however. There are well-documented use-case scenarios of why and once you should use a VPN. Our point is just that Netflix actively discourages and penalizes your account when trying to use a VPN to the purpose where it’s not well worth the hassle.
Of course, you won’t hear this from most of the media. As we posted back in June 2019, many news outlets fail to say any of the drawbacks to using VPNs on Netflix. the rationale behind that’s that VPNs often provide pretty hefty financial incentives to publishers within the sort of commission on sales. We’re constantly approached by VPN providers but we took a stance that it’s not within the best interest of our readers to market them.
So there you’ve got it – does one still like using VPNs with Netflix? does one have more luck than us with them? allow us to know within the comments.
About Author
