This is probably due to these two behemoths being able to throw more resources at the problem. Some VPN services did really well at this game, like ExpressVPN and NordVPN, while others weren’t nearly as successful. What followed was a running battle where VPNs would switch IP addresses and Netflix would ban them. A good chunk of their revenue is made up of people using VPNs to watch other countries’ Netflix libraries and you can’t let that kind of money slip through your fingers without putting up a fight. Of course, VPNs weren’t going to sit back and let this happen, either. Note that it’s not only Netflix that has a similar block in place: Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and a host of other entertainment channels block VPNs. VPN users have probably gotten fairly familiar with the “Pardon the interruption” screen on Netflix. What’s most likely is that Netflix identifies certain IP addresses as belonging to a VPN-that’s not too complicated, all it would need to do is keep track of which IP addresses connect more than a residential IP should-and then blocks that IP address from streaming. There’s no good way of telling exactly how the block works, just that it does. It’s a little unclear why exactly Netflix started blocking VPN users, but the most likely reason is that distributors realized a lot of people were getting around Netflix’s regional restrictions and thus pressured the company to institute some kind of VPN block.
The Netflix VPN BlockĪt least, you would be if Netflix didn’t like you doing that and set up a system to block you. As such, if you’re in Canada and want to watch German Netflix, you can just connect to a VPN server in Germany and you’re good to go.
When you do this, instead of your own IP address-the series of numbers that shows your approximate physical location-changes to that of the VPN server.