In August, Netflix started experimenting with a way to bypass sales through Apple’s iOS Store. Whenever a purchase is made through iOS, Apple receives 30% of that purchase. In the case of Netflix, that 30% could have been as much as $700,000 a day.
Instead of in-app purchasing for subscriptions, Netflix started directing users to their mobile browser to sign up for an account. By having subscribers sign up elsewhere, Apple was no longer entitled to that 30% cut—and it worked. Now Netflix has made the change globally, PC Magazine reports.
Last year Netflix earned an average of $2.4 million per day from subscriptions to its streaming service. Apple’s cut is estimated to have ranged from $350K to $700K per day, depending on how old its iOS subscriptions were (Netflix only pays 15% for subscriptions over a year old).
Netflix moved its subscriptions from Google Play last year, so it was only a matter of time before the same change was implemented for iOS as well.
Moving customers from in-app subscriptions isn’t the only experiment Netflix tried last year. It’s also still testing a $4-per-month mobile subscription service in some countries. That service would only allow customers to stream things on their mobile phones. If they wanted to watch programming via a set-top box like an Apple TV they would need to purchase a traditional subscription.