More than ever before, users have so much choice to find the perfect streaming platform. The variety and saturation of the industry even led to some negative trends of popular services losing subscribers. With more segmented markets, viewers must choose their platforms carefully and invest in those that offer the most shows they like.
Sorry, Your Country Is Not Supported
However, not all can have such a broad choice. Some streaming platforms come with geographical restrictions. A couple of reasons are behind such situations. You can have services focused on a single market without interest in going abroad. Great examples of that are Hulu and Pandora. Both are very popular in the US, Hulu for video and Pandora for music streaming. Simultaneously, you can’t get those services anywhere outside of the US.
Another possible issue for streaming platforms can be licensing. They can have the right to stream certain US shows and not other countries. Again, you can have a Netflix account with substantially different content selections in different countries.
If you have a streaming platform account, and you’re satisfied with their library, but then you discover you can’t watch it while on vacation in another country, you will also not be pleased.
Finally, some countries impose strict bans or censorship on social media and streaming platforms. China is well known for blocking Facebook, Instagram, and adult streaming services.
How To Avoid Geo-Blocking
Streaming platforms restrict their services based on location. So, if a show or a service is unavailable in your region or country, you won’t be able to watch it. The way platforms determine your location is through an IP address. Your digital identity is connected to IP; you get a unique IP number from your Internet Service Provider. A knowledgeable person will extract a lot of information from an IP, and approximate location is one of the critical components.
Because streaming platforms rely on detecting your IP address, you can use different tools to bypass such blockage. Proxy servers are the easiest way to go around geo-blocking and enjoy your favorite shows.
Proxies offer a unique service as an intermediary between your device and the destination server. Amazon Prime or Netflix will see your IP as being from an allowed country, and you can watch the content. Simultaneously, all top streaming platforms also have detection capabilities, and if they spot you using a proxy server or VPN, they will block you. That is why using quality proxy providers is essential; you can find the best available on the Proxyway list.
VPN is a more complex service than proxy. You will still use proxies if you use a VPN to watch restricted content.
Types Of Proxy Servers
Proxy is a middleman for your internet traffic and has the additional benefit of increased anonymity and security online. You can choose between different proxy types. If you’re interested solely in watching unavailable content, you can browse through specific Amazon proxy providers or those focused on other services like Netflix, HBO Max, or Disney+. A deeper dive into the proxy world will reveal different types of services.
Datacenter proxy servers are the most affordable and offer tremendous speed and reliability. You can use those proxies to bypass geo-restricted content. However, datacenter proxies have low authenticity scores, as they don’t have authentic IP addresses assigned from Internet Service Providers. If you can’t succeed logging in to Netflix or another platform while using a datacenter proxy, you should consider residential proxy servers.
Residential proxies are more expensive than datacenter proxy servers, mainly because they offer genuine IP addresses that were assigned to users from local ISPs. It will be much harder for streaming platforms to detect you are using proxies with residential ones.
Mobile proxies are a step higher in terms of price and authenticity. You will get the IPs assigned to mobile phones from a local network using mobile proxy servers. The downside of mobile proxies is speed, which is unreliable.
Unlike other use cases for proxy servers, if you use it for streaming content, you will want a static IP address, while you might want rotating proxies for web scraping and market research. Streaming platforms pay close attention to IP addresses; changing them while using the service might set off an alarm.
Whether you want to watch a new Netflix show or scrape Amazon reviews and prices with proxy servers, you should use paid quality options. Residential proxies are the best choice for this use despite being somewhat slow and expensive. Datacenter proxy server is the second best choice, with high speed and affordability but with the caveat of being easier to detect.
Conclusion
In the highly competitive world of streaming platforms, where choice is abundant but geo-restrictions can limit, proxy servers emerge as the ultimate solution to unlock a world of content. As streaming services grapple with geographical limitations due to licensing agreements or regional focus, users often cannot access their preferred shows abroad.
Proxy servers offer a seamless way to navigate geo-blocking. By disguising your IP address and presenting it as originating from an allowed country, proxies act as the digital passport to unrestricted content.
Whether you’re opting for the affordability and speed of datacenter proxy servers or investing in the authenticity of residential proxies with genuine IP addresses, the choice depends on what you plan to do with proxies. Both choices will help you go by geo-restricted content and enjoy your favourite show or movie.
