Netflix’s stock has dropped 13 per cent, inspiring speculations about the reasons of the sudden dive. A recent price hike for the service has been quoted as the main reason for the drop, resulting in a much slower client acquisition than has been predicted (only 1.7 million last quarter instead of 2.5 million expected subscribers).

VPN (Virtual Private Network) provider NordVPN has another theory, though.

NORD VPN says based on client comments and requests, it is safe to assume that the major reason for Netflix failure to deliver expected results was its crackdown on VPNs — even though Netflix CEO Reed Hastings had previously called VPNs “a very small but quite vocal minority; really inconsequential”. Was he mistaken in his assumptions about the significance of VPNs?

Since Netflix content is not uniform around the globe, it was common for subscribers to connect to American Netflix by using a VPN. Netflix has started a VPN crackdown half a year ago as it hasn’t secured streaming rights for its American shows abroad.

As a result, NordVPN says it has experienced an overwhelming amount of user inquiries about its VPN services and Netflix streaming in various countries.

Here are a few trends it has noticed:

Unsubscribing from Netflix rather than quitting VPNs

People have discovered diverse benefits of VPNs, and chose their privacy over streaming. One customer is quoted as saying “Privacy first! Netflix last. I wonder how the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings would feel if his subscribers got to follow him everywhere he went! You can most assuredly bet that he would hire his own security team to keep his affairs private”.

A return to P2P file sharing

An old and tried technique of file sharing had started to quiet down thanks to Netflix and other streaming programs that were giving people access to a wide variety of options to watch for a comparatively good price. Or rather, many Netflix and other streaming service subscribers around the world were using VPNs and proxy servers to access shows on Netflix USA that has by far the most options and were paying to do so.Since that is not an option anymore due to Netflix crackdown on VPNs, users are reporting the trend reversal. “People are simply reverting back to P2P, reversing all the good Netflix brought,” said one user on Reddit.

A move to local streaming services

For example, Australia’s local Stan and Presto provider has been growing, while Australian Netflix has been losing subscribers. Hulu, Amazon Prime and multiple smaller streaming providers have also seen an increase in users in the past quarter.

“By limiting people’s freedom to watch their shows Netflix seems to be hurting their own sales as well as the profit of the studios which it is trying to protect,” NordVPN said in a statement. “In the meanwhile, the users are making their own decisions and choosing alternatives.”