Survey explores possibility of Netflix subs jumping ship for Redbox

Netflix sparked a wildfire of criticism and anger last month when it announced a new, pricier subscription plan. On September 1st, current members will begin paying up to 60 percent more for their online streaming and DVD rental package. That is, unless they walk away from the service altogether. One curious analyst researched the likelihood of that happening.

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Michael Olson, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, revealed the results of a small survey which questioned Netflix subscribers' dedication. Olson asked a mere 350 people about their plans to deal with the rental and streaming giant's plan. The answers were mixed, with the smallest group insisting their local Redbox would receive more face time.

"Specifically, 8 percent will use Redbox more because they are quitting Netflix and plan to replace those movies with DVDs from Redbox, while 16 percent are switching to streaming-only on Netflix and plan to replace the DVDs they were receiving from Netflix with DVDs from Redbox," said Olson.

Olson also revealed that 15 percent said they would be cancelling their Netflix subscriptions altogether.

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Considering the company's massive user base (25 million overall, with its Canadian service cracking the 1 million mark just weeks ago), however, and losing 80 people or so just isn't that big of a deal. With Netflix's Latin American expansion on the horizon for later this year, it will almost certainly garner at least 80 new subscribers. Flippancy aside, it's difficult to argue that Netflix indeed faces a larger push-back from frustrated subscribers.

In June, members voiced their disapproval with controversial user interface changes made to the Netflix site. Not long after, the company said it was removing avatars, nicknames and bios from the service, claiming they were not that popular anyway. Both ideas were met with derision; members inundated the company's official blog to offer scathing feedback.

Redbox could certainly cater to more ex-Netflix subscribers than ever before in the coming weeks, making the timing of its most recent price hike experiment curious. Will the entirety of their saved cash end up inside the metal guts of a rental kiosk instead?

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