Georestrictions Travelers May Face When Abroad

Streaming websites are able to pin your location by analyzing your IP address. When you travel abroad and make your way through different countries, this IP address will change, so you might not be able to access the same content you could at home.

Why Do Entertainment Providers Geoblock Content?

There are a few major reasons why platforms tend to geoblock content. The main one is because they want to protect licensed, or copyrighted content. Streaming platforms tend to only own the content they create, and if they want to provide additional content, they need to negotiate a deal with the copyright holder. Each deal comes with different requirements as to how the content can be used and distributed. 

As a result, streaming services often use geoblocking as a way to ensure that they don’t breach agreements. You also have market segmentation. This is the process of dividing a market into various consumer groups. Some shows on Netflix France might not be available in Netflix Japan because they’re deemed to be irrelevant to Japanese viewers. 

The same concept applies to websites that provide games too. Certain sites may only allow certain currencies, so if you play live bingo games like Double Bubble or 5 Line Bingo, you may find that the site limits access if they don’t allow deposits from the country of your current residence.

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How to Work Around Geo-Restrictions When Abroad

Sites like Netflix often filter what you can see as you move between countries. There are over 6,000 Netflix titles available in the US, but in Slovakia, you’ll notice that there are over 8,400. One way for you to work around this, and catch up with your favorite shows would be for you to use a VPN.  Netflix doesn’t prohibit users from accessing their content through a VPN, nor are they against people using measures to bypass geographical restrictions. With that being said, the company has taken steps to ensure that subscribers can only access content for the country they are in currently, and this includes blocking the IPs of various VPN providers. Accessing the content you want may come down to trial and error, but ultimately, you don’t need to miss out on your favorite shows just because you are abroad.

Source: Pexels

In regards to online entertainment, it’s not just Netflix that adopts geo blocking as a way to filter content to audiences. Amazon and even Spotify also take measures to cater their offerings. With Spotify, you may notice that some podcasts aren’t available as you travel through different countries. You may see them in the search engine, but find that the content can’t be played as the option is grayed out.  

Certain songs may also be privy to copyright and licensing agreements, meaning they can’t be played in certain countries. Spotify also uses your IP as a way to suggest content you might be interested in. In France, you may find that French artists are suggested more than Italian artists, for example. This is, of course, done with your listening preferences still taken into account to ensure that a good experience is still provided to music fans as they travel.

So geoblocking might change the way you access entertainment abroad, but it is possible to work around it with a VPN if you don’t want to miss out on the latest episode of your favorite show.