We all know someone who uses someone else’s log-in details to stream the latest content from Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Video.
But according to a new study from CordCutting.com, that number is actually pretty high—as many as one in five. And those freeloaders are costing the streaming services a lot of money.
CordCutting estimates that Netflix could be losing as much as $192 million a month. Amazon and Hulu are also affected, but less significantly: the estimates show they are losing around $45 million and $40 million a month, respectively.
And Netflix isn’t just hit by that loss in revenue. It also happens to be the streaming service that is pirated the longest. CordCutting found that people tend to mooch off someone else’s Netflix account for an average of 26 months, compared to 16 months for Amazon, or 11 months for Hulu.
Of course, it’s not all entirely nefarious. Many of the people “pirating” Netflix are simply children using their parents’ log-in details, accounting for 48% of moochers, or their siblings’ account. And it’s not just young people doing the freeloading either. While the study found that millennials account for the largest demographic pirating Netflix, baby boomers were the most likely to use someone else’s details to log in to Amazon Video.
