Want to take a trip down memory lane with the 2002 movie? Or see where the modern Spider-Man movies got their start? Go ahead and look up the movie on Netflix, and take in the great acting, writing, and effects.
What? It’s not showing up for you?
We have some bad news for you then – Spider-Man isn’t available on Netflix in your country. If you’d like to know why, and find out what you can do about this, keep reading.
What Countries Is Spider-Man Available in?
First, let’s use StreamCatcher from ProPrivacy (https://streamcatcher.proprivacy.com) to see where the movie is available. If you haven’t heard about StreamCatcher, it’s an online tool that tells you what countries a Netflix title is available in.
Here’s what it had to say about Spider-Man’s availability:
If the photo doesn’t load for you, or you want to copy-paste the regions, here’s a full list of the countries where the movie can be watched:
- The Czech Republic
- Germany
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Israel
- Lithuania
- The Netherlands
- Poland
- Russia
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Switzerland
So 15 countries (at the moment of writing). Not really ideal considering that Netflix is available in over 190 countries.
Why Isn’t Spider-Man Available Worldwide on Netflix?
Simple – because Netflix doesn’t own the movie, so they have to license it from the copyright holder. That means they need to buy licensing rights so that they can legally stream the movie on their platform.
Netflix usually tries to get global rights, but they’re not always able to do this. Here’s why:
- The rights for a specific region just aren’t for sale.
- The copyright holder already sold the licensing rights for certain countries to other streaming sites and TV networks. For example, in the US and UK, it seems that you can only watch Spider-Man on Amazon Prime Video. So that might mean Amazon owns the licensing rights for that movie in those countries.
- Netflix’s data mining shows that people in certain countries aren’t interested in this movie. If that’s the case, they won’t license the content for those regions. Since licensed content is a huge part of its budget, Netflix has to be sure the investment pays off in the long run by attracting new subscribers or triggering subscription renewals.
Because of that, Netflix has to use geo-blocks to make sure only users from countries they bought licensing rights for can watch the movie. Basically, Netflix checks your geo-location when you connect to it, and redirects you to your country’s content library (which doesn’t have Spider-Man).
How to Unblock Spider-Man on Netflix (3 Simple Solutions)
Based on our tests, you can use three unblocking methods to watch this movie on Netflix (and any other content you want):
1. VPNs (Best Option)
VPNs are online services that help you unblock geo-restricted content by hiding your geo-location. They do that by preventing sites (like Netflix) from seeing your real IP address (which tells them what country and city you are from).
How does it do that, exactly?
To keep it simple – the VPN routes your traffic through a server that sits between you and Netflix, like so:
You à VPN Server à Netflix
Because you traffic takes that path, Netflix thinks it’s coming from the VPN server, not your device. So it only sees the VPN’s IP address.
So the solution is simple – just use a VPN server from a country where Spider-Man is available (like Spain, Switzerland, or Hong Kong).
Netflix can detect VPN usage, though, so make sure you only use a VPN that can avoid that (i.e. one that refreshes its IPs very often). To find such a provider, we recommend using StreamCatcher (https://streamcatcher.proprivacy.com). Besides telling you where Netflix titles are available, it also uses ProPrivacy’s data to recommend the best Netflix VPNs.
2. Proxy Servers
A proxy is basically a VPN with poor or no encryption. It does the same thing to hide your IP address – it intercepts your connection requests, and forwards them to Netflix for you. So the site only sees the proxy’s IP address.
The lack of strong encryption leaves you vulnerable to bandwidth throttling, though. If you’re not familiar with that term, it’s when your ISP slows down your speeds because you’re spending too much data on the site (easy to do when you binge Netflix).
On the plus side, a proxy can offer faster load times. If the provider configured it to save requested web pages on its local cache, it can retrieve them without forwarding connection requests to the web.
3. Smart DNS Services
These are online tools that spoof your geo-location by changing your DNS settings. That way, you’re no longer using your ISP’s DNS server (so Netflix doesn’t see DNS queries coming from your country).
Besides that, here’s how else a Smart DNS makes sure your geo-location doesn’t leak:
- It routes your traffic through proxy servers that are located in countries where Spider-Man is available.
- It intercepts your DNS queries, and removes metadata that can leak your geo-location. Then, it replaces it with new data that points to a whitelisted region (where the movie is available).
Smart DNS services are perfect for streaming since they don’t slow down your initial speeds at all. However, they don’t offer any encryption either, so stopping bandwidth throttling is out of the question. Also, there’s not much point in getting a stand-alone Smart DNS since most top VPN providers offer built-in Smart DNS functionality alongside their man VPN service.
Did You Have to Unblock Spider-Man Too?
Or was it available in your country from the start? If you did unblock it, which method did you like the most? Please let us know in the comments below.
