Netflix US vs Netflix Canada: are they that much different when it comes to content offered? There was a time in which the former had the latter beat, but the scenario may be changing. Still, hiring a VPN to switch regions and looking for the series you love may be a worthwhile investment.
Netflix: the king of online streaming
You have probably heard a little bit about Netflix, haven’t you? Well, in case you have been living in a cave all these years, you have. The online streaming market offers several viable alternatives, such as Hulu, the BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, and local stations and channels that all countries host. However, none of them can measure up to Netflix’s dominance and worldwide reach.
Netflix is a popular multimedia library and online streaming platforms that has thousands of shows and movies available to people from all locations to enjoy. For a small monthly subscription fee, people from all latitudes will have access to a geo-customized catalog of films and TV series.
The company was founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, United States. At that point, it acted like a renting place for movies and TV series, like many of its competitors and when the devices to reproduce content weren’t the same as today’s. However, a paradigm shift took place in 2007, when the enterprise morphed into a streaming platform with resounding success.
Nowadays, Netflix is an over-the-top media services company that has been producing its series and movies for six years now, in addition to offering to stream of other content thanks to its agreements with studios and production companies.
Netflix catalogs and libraries: Why do they exist?
Netflix is available in more than 200 countries around the world, which would be nearly all of them save for a few notable exceptions, like North Korea, for example. Otherwise, it is maybe the one truly global streaming platform.
However, not all countries have access to the same content library. There is a designed catalog for every nation in which the company provides its services. You may ask yourself, which are the factors that have to do with the available material in each location?
It all comes down to licensing agreements between Netflix and production companies for the streaming rights in each area; and the negotiation price, in turn, will depend on how popular the production is in every country. A show that is a hit in Canada may not be considered the same in the United States, for example.
Now, the Netflix US vs Netflix Canada battle has been one that the company has been losing for quite some time now. Why losing? Because Netflix doesn’t want people from a specific location accessing another area’s library. But it is only natural since the American catalog is considered the best and most complete of them all.
People in Canada have been altering their DNS settings, hiring VPNs, proxies, or Smart DNS technologies to bypass the dreaded “You are not allowed to watch this video in your country” message and enjoy the content present in the US catalog. For references, here are some of the shows unavailable in the northern nation that are present in the “states”:
- Seuss – The Lorax
- Tinkerbell – Secret of the Wings
- Shaun the Sheep
- Once upon a Time (first season)
- Braveheart
- Starship Troopers
- Thor
- Death Wish
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- Sons of Anarchy
- The Office
- Loiue
- 30 Rock
- Scandal
However, the situation is improving for Canadians. Whereas a few years ago the Netflix US vs Netflix Canada battle was a lopsided one – the latter had nearly 10,000 shows and movies combined, and the former barely offered 4,000 – right now it is far more balanced.
Here is the latest peek at the top 10 nations when it comes to shows and movies available for Netflix streaming:
Country Total Movies Series
Japan 5800 4444 1356
United States 5771 4081 1690
Canada 5472 3932 1540
United Kingdom 5326 3745 1581
India 5078 3587 1491
Australia 4990 3455 1535
Hungary 4273 2957 1316
Slovakia 4263 2944 1319
Czech Republic 4254 2944 1310
Russia 4146 2845 1301
The information is courtesy of the folks at the Unofficial Netflix Online Global Search (uNoGS.) There are two primary takeaways: for starters, Japan has displaced the United States as the top library. And second, Netflix US vs Netflix Canada is a level competition right now.
VPN technology: the perfect tool to promote your access to both catalogs
However, destiny often works in mysterious ways, and you may want to see some of the 299 productions that are not available in Canada but are present in the United States Netflix region. Such is life.
For those users, the perfect solution is hiring the services of a VPN provider. Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are online apps that offer encryption services that will send your traffic and IP address to remote servers, away from any harmful or potentially dangerous agents such as governmental surveillance organizations, online advertising companies, hackers, malware developers, crypto miners, and more.
VPN technology uses protocols – OpenVPN is the best and most widely used, but L2TP/IPSec, SSTP, and IKEv2 are also efficient – to create a virtual tunnel for the aforementioned information to pass through. That way, the user will avoid its content from being seen by its Internet Service Provider. ISPs are known for collecting their customers’ data logs and selling them to third parties, which is a privacy violation.
By definition, VPN apps can provide security, privacy, and anonymous browsing. However, since it can hide the user’s IP address and replace it with one from the country he, or she, selects, it is also excellent for unblocking restricted international sites that fall under geo-location blocking measures, such as Netflix. People can enter several Netflix libraries just by hiring a VPN and connecting to another nation’s servers.
Netflix US vs Netflix Canada: how to access either region with a VPN
- Select a VPN with servers in both countries. Most of the widely known brands fulfill this condition.
- Go to that VPN’s website.
- Sign up for the package you want. You may need to provide personal information and a payment method.
- Create a username and a password.
- Download and install the VPN app or client in your streaming device.
- Launch the VPN app.
- Log in to your account with your credentials.
- If you are in Canada and want to enter the American library, connect to a US-based server to obtain an IP address from that nation. If you are in the states and want to see a show that is only available in Canada, invert the sequence.
- Open Netflix and the show you want to unblock. The video will become available to you.
TorGuard: enter several Netflix regions with a single app
TorGuard is one of the most reliable brands for Netflix streaming. Not only it protects your online assets and IP address like no other thanks to its robust encryption and excellent security features (it includes protection for DNS leaks and also a kill switch,) but also, it has several protocols available and the ability to connect up to five devices at the same time.
The best and most enticing aspect of the TorGuard service is its broad network. Users can access Netflix libraries in 55 nations! With more than 3,000 servers and unlimited switching, users can look for the best speeds and performance.
In conclusion, Netflix is the only global services that can stream movies and TV series in more than 200 nations around the world. However, each one has its own catalog, and accessing content from another country isn’t allowed under normal circumstances.
If you want to enjoy the best content in both Netflix US and Netflix Canada, find a VPN service provider to hide your real IP address and obtain one from the other country. That way, its content will become instantly available even if you are across the border.
