Netflix Viewers Creeped Out After Streaming Giant Calls Out 53 People Who Watch ‘A Christmas Prince’ Daily
Netflix has called out 53 people who have watched the site’s recently released original movie, A Christmas Prince, every day for nearly three weeks. The streaming giant’s official Twitter account trolled the 53 superfans of the cheesy 2017 holiday movie with the tongue-in-cheek tweet.
“To the 53 people who’ve watched A Christmas Prince every day for the past 18 days: Who hurt you?”
A Christmas Prince is Netflix’s answer to Hallmark and Lifetime’s massive holiday movie success, and it has been successful on Netflix—at least for 53 devoted people who seem to have it on autoplay. The cliché-filled, made-for-streaming movie about a New York journalist named Amber Moore who falls in love with the European crown prince she is supposed to be writing about stars Rose McIver and Ben Lamb. A Christmas Prince made its royal debut on Netflix on Nov. 17 and has already earned a reputation for its corny, predictable storyline. In other words, it is bound to become a Christmas classic.
While Netflix poked fun at the 53 A Christmas Prince diehards, some viewers were put off by the site’s unconventional use of the streaming data. Several Netflix viewers responded to the tweet with outrage, with some describing the tracking move as “creepy.”
One concerned viewer asked if it is written in Netflix’s Terms of Service and Acceptable Use policy that the site “will collect and analyze viewing habits so that you can mock people via social media.” Others described the data collection as “Big Brother”-esque. You can see some of the tweets about Netflix’s A Christmas Prince call-out below.
This is amazing. Except for the “watching us like big brother “ part ?
— blake (@blaketopia) December 11, 2017
1. sick burn. 2. this is creepy AF. https://t.co/xuUM8WBhjj
— tierney bricker (@tbrick2) December 11, 2017
that netflix christmas prince tweet terrifies me because like they're absolutely mining your data and they absolutely will use it in trivial ways to advertise their product privacy is a memory and we sacrificed it willingly to big data
— miccaeli ?? (@renegadeapostle) December 11, 2017
NETFLIX: Every hour that our demands are not met, we will release the name of a person who watched A Christmas Prince for 18 consecutive days.
— Glenn Loury 2.0 Darker, Gayer, Different (@justabloodygame) December 11, 2017
Netflix is weirdly worried about 'A Christmas Prince' fans https://t.co/MePJKIeIfZ pic.twitter.com/VTyEPnBEeX
— CNET (@CNET) December 12, 2017
Of course, Netflix is not alone in collecting data and sharing it with subscribers. In fact, this isn’t even the first time the site did it this year. According to Business Insider, earlier this year Netflix shared that a user in the UK has watched the 2007 film Bee Movie 357 times this year.
In addition, music streaming site Spotify has also been known to call out its subscribers. According to Adweek, Spotify poked fun at a Justin Bieber fan via a billboard in 2016.
“Dear person who played ‘Sorry’ 42 times on Valentine’s Day: What did you do?”
Take a look at an extended trailer for A Christmas Prince below and decide if you think it’s worth watching 18 days in a row.
