• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, May 27, 2020

“Seinfeld” character George Costanza might still be telling potential girlfriends looking to depart: “No, you’re not breaking up with me. I’m breaking up with you!”

So confident is Netflix about its perceived strength in the market, it is offering to cancel subscribers who haven't been using the service.

Maybe this is reverse psychology. Longtime marketing executives might complain one should never open this door to consumers. Don’t give them any ideas.

Monthly ongoing subscription deals for premium services have always had the easy option of canceling. No shame. No hard sell. Just a sentiment that says: “That’s too bad. We look forward whenever you want to come back.”

This is part of the transition that witnessed the rise of big cord-cutting from traditional pay TV providers -- cable, satellite and telco -- where deals would saddle consumers with long-term and sometimes multi-year contracts.

Unlike pay TV deals, there are no long contracts with streaming. 

Netflix's timing couldn’t be more perfect here. In the age of COVID-19, where there are plenty of people working from home -- or unfortunately, out of work, TV viewing, both traditional and streaming have been on the rise.

On TV, radio and streaming news interviews, people admit to watching a lot of Netflix. Great earning-media marketing, in and of itself.

This is from a recent Netflix blog:

“You know that sinking feeling when you realize you signed up for something, but haven’t used it in ages? At Netflix, the last thing we want is people paying for something they’re not using.”

“So we’re asking everyone who has not watched anything on Netflix for a year since they joined to confirm they want to keep their membership. And we’ll do the same for anyone who has stopped watching for more than two years.”

Maybe Netflix knows something: It adds that these type of accounts represent “less than half of one percent of our overall member base, only a few hundred thousand.”

With nearly 70 million-plus U.S./Canada subscribers and more then 182 million worldwide, big guys can be generous sometimes.