Google extended a special offer to Netflix, proposing a favorable deal wherein the streaming service would only pay a 10 percent fee on transactions conducted through Google Play.

Netflix, like Spotify, engaged in negotiations with Google for preferential treatment. In 2017, Google presented Netflix with a special discounted rate of 10 percent on its in-app payments for Android, allowing Netflix to retain 90 percent of the proceeds. Although users can no longer subscribe to Netflix from within the app on Android, this was a different scenario in the past. Netflix had previously paid Google a 15 percent fee for this capability, as mentioned by Netflix’s VP of Business Development, Paul Perryman, in a 2022 video deposition presented during the Epic v. Google trial.

Initially, when Netflix could employ its own payment method, the payment was closer to three percent. However, Google later discontinued this option. Before discontinuation, Google attempted to entice Netflix into voluntarily switching to Google Play Billing (GPB) by proposing a special 10 percent deal, rather than risking Netflix taking its revenue elsewhere.

According to an internal Netflix document presented in court, Google offered to designate Netflix as a “platform development partner” under a program known as “LRAP++” (Living Room Accelerator Program, as inferred). The document specified that Netflix was the sole recipient of this offer at that time.

The proposed deal involved reducing the revenue share to 10 percent, contingent upon Netflix committing fully to GPB globally. Perryman affirmed under oath that Google indeed extended this offer to Netflix in September 2017. However, Netflix ultimately declined the deal. As of now, Netflix does not pay anything to Google for distribution via Google Play, opting to redirect users who download the app to subscribe and pay through a mobile browser instead.