Not just Spotify, Google also offered streaming giant Netflix a special discounted rate of 10 per cent of its in-app payments on Android so that Netflix could keep 90 per cent of the money, the media reported. The details surfaced during the ongoing Epic Games vs. Google trial in the US, reports The Verge.
According to documents and testimonies in the courtroom, Google offered to make Netflix a “platform development partner” under a special programme, according to a Netflix internal document shown in court. “Netflix is the only one this is being offered to at this point,” the document read. “Bring revshare to 10 per cent on the condition that Netflix have a full commitment to GPB (Google Play Billing) globally,” according to the deal.
Netflix VP of business development Paul Perryman confirmed under oath that Google actually offered that deal to Netflix in September 2017, the report mentioned. Netflix didn’t accept the deal, he said and no longer pays Google anything for distribution via Google Play. Fortnite publisher Epic Games had sued Google in 2020 after a fight over in-app purchase fees. Google has defended its 30 per cent cut on transactions for apps via its Play store.