Are you still watching?
Almost a million people decided that their lives, and their wallets, would be better off without a Netflix subscription in the last 3 months, as the streaming service reported a second consecutive quarter of falling subscriber numbers.
Losing 970,000 subscribers was hardly a success for Netflix, but it was better than the 2 million that they'd expected to lose — which is why the company's share price gained almost 6% yesterday, amidst a broader stock market rise. CEO Reed Hastings lauded the performance of global smash hit Stranger Things as a particular bright spot, and the company anticipates a turnaround in Q3, with expectations for a gain of 1 million subscribers.
Catch me if you can
The news means that Disney, which will give us an update on its Disney+ numbers in around 3 weeks, is likely to continue gaining on Netflix's early streaming lead. Netflix's hopes to stay out in front of its competition are mainly pinned to the success of its new ad-supported tier, developed in partnership with Microsoft, which is expected to launch in early 2023. The other lever that the company has pulled is its ongoing crackdown on password sharing — this week they announced that an "extra home" fee would be added to some customer accounts in certain countries. Netflix and not so chill.
