Netflix has been accepting most of the payment methods including debit card in India which came as a huge relief. Now the streaming major is all set to offer a new way for customers to pay their monthly bills, via Google Play Billing. This means that users can be directly charged to their Google Play account provided that they already have a mode of payment along with credentials stored. This move will let you add an additional layer between your credit card and the company thus eventually reducing the companies that have your credit card details.
This new billing options is however going to be rolled out incrementally over “several weeks” to a small group of users. The slow rollout however suggests that it might be several weeks or even months before this billing method is available for all the Netflix users.
The best part is the fact that Google Play Store supports gift cards, a great way for young Netflix users who don’t have a debit card or credit card. Netflix has been gearing up for the challenge as other streaming services are syndicating the content. For instance, the recently launched Hotstar premium in India supports a bunch of HBO shows whereas Netflix is unable to license the same. That being said, Netflix originals like the House of Cards, Narcos, Orange is the New black and the Daredevil have been gaining extremely popular and it will be these exclusive shows that will help Netflix retain their subscribers.
As we already know Netflix recently expanded to 190 countries including India. The caveat here comes in the form of geographically restricted content which just dilutes the Netflix library to a great extent. It would be great if Netflix can address this downside as it would greatly improvise their curation.