11 ms·

The reason for Netflix lost subscribers in 2022 is the same as the reason Netflix experienced a growth spurt in 2020: work from home. When people work from home

The reason for Netflix lost subscribers in 2022 is the same as the reason Netflix experienced a growth spurt in 2020: work from home. When people work from home, on average they gain an extra hour or more per day, because they don't have to commute. (Not to mention, the boss can't walk up behind you and catch you enjoying a movie!) Now that work from home is over, they no longer need the Netflix subscription.

LegitShady 4y ago
While WFH probably did impact some of their subscriber amount, other issues definitely affect the total subscriber amount, including cost (compared to competing against apple TV+, amazon prime video, and disney+), lack of content (which they're trying to work on) and controversy. They also have competition on the "content" front in that amazon prime video is now creating its own terrible "lets throw money at this until it works" service to compete with them, and many people already have it with prime so don't feel the need to pay netflix's increasingly expensive service. I don't know about you but netflix costs more than amazon prime for me, so I could either get netflix or I could get all the amazon prime benefits. It's a losing proposition for netflix.
mertd 4y ago
Netflix losing subscribers is a false narrative. Had they not pulled out of Russia, they would have posted a net gain.
- rvz 4y ago
  > Netflix losing subscribers is a false narrative. So is that why the increasing competition from the likes of Apple, Disney+ and HBO, recent price increases and password sharing loopholes have plagued its growth? All of that explains why they are (still) losing subscribers. Pulling out of Russia, just accelerated it and that was self-inflicting.
  - bumper_crop 4y ago
    > So is that why the increasing competition from the likes of Apple, Disney+ and HBO, recent price increases and password sharing loopholes have plagued its growth? This is also a false narrative. Netflix subscribers seldomly churn. Long lived accounts typically don't cancel, since new content comes out on a weekly basis. You can't cancel your cable subscription and just buy Disney+; you usually keep Netflix around too. Netflix is only tangentially competing with other streamers; they are directly competing with cable. The subscriber count is affected by two things: new subscribers coming on board, and existing subscribers leaving. Since subscribers usually don't leave, the miss was on the new subscribers coming in. It absolutely was due to high growth countries (like Russia) not growing.
- cato_the_elder 4y ago
  No it's not. While it's true that that suspending their service in Russia costed them 700,000 subscribers, Netflix is projecting that they will lose 2,000,000 users this quarter. [1] [1]: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-04-19/lat-et-ct-netflix-loses-subscriber-first-quarter https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/20...
  - Izkata 4y ago
    Yes it is. GP is talking solely about what's already happened: -200,000 after having cut off 700,000 from Russia, which is a net gain of 500,000 outside of Russia.
    - cato_the_elder 4y ago
      But the projection has nothing to do with cutting off Russians. At least not directly.
      - Izkata 4y ago
        They were responding to someone who phrased their comment as if they were also talking about what already happened, not as if they were referring to projections.
bumper_crop 4y ago
As mertd mentioned, Netflix losing subs was an _unexpected_ loss. In their 2020Q2 10-Q, they made it clear that the increase in subscribers was being pulled forward from subsequent years, and investors were made aware of this. The slowdown after Covid was expected, and factored into the price. It was the cutting off 400K+ subscribers from Russia that spooked investors.

LegitShady 4y ago

While WFH probably did impact some of their subscriber amount, other issues definitely affect the total subscriber amount, including cost (compared to competing against apple TV+, amazon prime video, and disney+), lack of content (which they're trying to work on) and controversy. They also have competition on the "content" front in that amazon prime video is now creating its own terrible "lets throw money at this until it works" service to compete with them, and many people already have it with prime so don't feel the need to pay netflix's increasingly expensive service. I don't know about you but netflix costs more than amazon prime for me, so I could either get netflix or I could get all the amazon prime benefits. It's a losing proposition for netflix.

mertd 4y ago

Netflix losing subscribers is a false narrative. Had they not pulled out of Russia, they would have posted a net gain.

rvz 4y ago
> Netflix losing subscribers is a false narrative. So is that why the increasing competition from the likes of Apple, Disney+ and HBO, recent price increases and password sharing loopholes have plagued its growth? All of that explains why they are (still) losing subscribers. Pulling out of Russia, just accelerated it and that was self-inflicting.
- bumper_crop 4y ago
  > So is that why the increasing competition from the likes of Apple, Disney+ and HBO, recent price increases and password sharing loopholes have plagued its growth? This is also a false narrative. Netflix subscribers seldomly churn. Long lived accounts typically don't cancel, since new content comes out on a weekly basis. You can't cancel your cable subscription and just buy Disney+; you usually keep Netflix around too. Netflix is only tangentially competing with other streamers; they are directly competing with cable. The subscriber count is affected by two things: new subscribers coming on board, and existing subscribers leaving. Since subscribers usually don't leave, the miss was on the new subscribers coming in. It absolutely was due to high growth countries (like Russia) not growing.
cato_the_elder 4y ago
No it's not. While it's true that that suspending their service in Russia costed them 700,000 subscribers, Netflix is projecting that they will lose 2,000,000 users this quarter. [1] [1]: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-04-19/lat-et-ct-netflix-loses-subscriber-first-quarter https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/20...
- Izkata 4y ago
  Yes it is. GP is talking solely about what's already happened: -200,000 after having cut off 700,000 from Russia, which is a net gain of 500,000 outside of Russia.
  - cato_the_elder 4y ago
    But the projection has nothing to do with cutting off Russians. At least not directly.
    - Izkata 4y ago
      They were responding to someone who phrased their comment as if they were also talking about what already happened, not as if they were referring to projections.

bumper_crop 4y ago

As mertd mentioned, Netflix losing subs was an _unexpected_ loss. In their 2020Q2 10-Q, they made it clear that the increase in subscribers was being pulled forward from subsequent years, and investors were made aware of this. The slowdown after Covid was expected, and factored into the price. It was the cutting off 400K+ subscribers from Russia that spooked investors.