How to watch American Netflix in Iceland
Chris
Chris, a UK-born media connoisseur, is an expert in watching international TV. Known as "The Global Screen Wanderer", he has travelled extensively across the globe with long stints away from home. With over 10 years of experience he has become the go-to guru for streaming content from home and abroad.
American Netflix is the most popular region of Netflix available. However, if you live or travel in Iceland it isn’t ordinarily available. In this guide I’m going to show you how you can access it.
Netflix is great, they let you login to their service anywhere in the world no matter where you pay for your account.
One big caveat is Netflix vary their content based on country. This means in one country you get certain movies and TV shows and another they offer a different selection.
American Netflix is basically the holy grail of Netflix services because it has more content than nearly every other Netflix region out there.
Iceland, on the other hand, has a pretty poor catalogue in comparison. In fact just a couple of years back Iceland’s Netflix catalogue contained just 15% of the American one.
How to watch American Netflix in Iceland
To watch American Netflix in Iceland you’ll need to get a VPN app.
This lets you change your location to make it look like you’re in America, rather than where you really are in Iceland.
Grab a VPN service from ExpressVPN by clicking here and sign up for their service.
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Then download their app for your device. They support everything including Android, Apple iOS, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Windows and Mac OS devices.
Open the app and press Selected Location (1) then United States (2) and finally Connect.
Watch US Netflix in Iceland with ExpressVPN.
Once it’s connected open your Netflix app or visit the Netflix website where you’ll now be able to watch American Netflix in Iceland.
That really is all there is to it!
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What VPN services work with Netflix
ExpressVPN is my recommended service for watching American Netflix in Iceland.
They work extremely well and have done for the past 2 years. They also have a sweet 30-day money back guarantee which gives you plenty of time to test American Netflix in Iceland.
There are a couple of other VPN services that work with American Netflix so you may want to take a look at NordVPN and CyberGhost VPN too.
What’s on American Netflix that isn’t on Iceland’s
It’s difficult to know where to start when it comes to comparing Netflix catalogues. But if you want to watch gems like Better Call Saul on Netflix then American Netflix is where you need to be.
While things change rapidly one of the most recent comparisons was carried out in 2016.
Website Finder discovered that Icelandic Netflix has just 15.56% of the American Netflix TV shows and 16.92% of the American Netflix movies.
While this has no doubt improved since that study it’s clear that American Netflix has huge amounts of extra content that aren’t available on either Iceland Netflix or Netflix in most other countries.
The picture is equally as bleak when consulting other sources as Grapevine.is reported that the year Netflix officially launched in the country there were just 1/6th of the American movie and TV show selection available.
Why is Iceland’s selection of movies so different
Iceland isn’t alone when it comes to the poor selection of movies and TV shows on Netflix in comparison to the American counterpart.
There are of course countries that fair better with smaller percentages of missing movies and shows but surprisingly there are countries with even smaller catalogues than the Icelandic Netflix one.
It all comes down to regions and licensing.
Movies, TV shows and music are licensed differently in different countries and regions. Some are sold to local TV networks, others to subscription services and some Netflix picks up the rights.
Where the rights are held by another broadcaster in Iceland it then means they’re unable to show them on Icelandic Netflix.
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How does Icelandic Netflix compare to the world
You probably feel a little hard done to when you compare the American Netflix catalogue to the Icelandic one. Thankfully you can watch American Netflix in Iceland simply by using a VPN from ExpressVPN.
It’s worth knowing however how Icelandic Netflix fairs in comparison to the rest of the world.
Sadly, the picture is pretty bleak. In a November 2018 report, Finder website discovered that Iceland has one of the worst catalogues of movies and TV shows in the world.
Iceland is lumped with countries such as Nicaragua, Ukraine, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea.
Sorry Icelanders!
Is using a VPN to access American Netflix legal
Using a VPN is completely legal. They’re totally legitimate tools to help you secure your online privacy.
Accessing American Netflix in Iceland using a VPN is not illegal but technically it’s against the terms and conditions of the Netflix website.
While Netflix allows you to login from anywhere in the world with an account, they don’t extend this to artificially hopping borders.
So while you’re fine to login and watch Icelandic Netflix with an American Netflix account if you’re physically in Iceland. You’re not supposed to be accessing American Netflix if you’re in Iceland.
That said, hundreds of thousands of users use VPN apps daily to access other Netflix regions. No one has had their accounts banned or any other repercussions for doing so.
Are VPN apps blocked from accessing Netflix
Up until 2016 millions of users across the world were using VPN apps to watch Netflix. This was mostly because in many countries it wasn’t available.
This changed when Netflix was unleashed in one swoop on much of the world. Netflix started to block VPN services and were very successful for the initial 12 months.
Fast forward in time and many VPN providers now work perfectly with American Netflix and a few other regions like UK, Canadian and Australian Netflix too.
However, not all VPN services work. Some gave up the fight and continue to be blocked for accessing Netflix.
That’s why it’s so important to choose one that has been tested and does work such as ExpressVPN.
In Summary: How to watch American Netflix in Iceland
If you want to watch American Netflix in Iceland you’ll need two things:
1) A VPN from ExpressVPN
2) A Netflix account from any country
Sign up to ExpressVPN or one of the other providers recommended in this guide. Download their app and connect to America.
Now open your Netflix app or visit the Netflix website. You’ll now have access to watch the entire American Netflix catalogue in Iceland.
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