[bitontheslide]

The number of Netflix subscribers has fallen for the first time in more than a decade.

The streaming company lost 200,000 members in the first three months of the year, the company said on Tuesday.

The declines came after the firm raised prices in key markets including the US and UK, while pulling out of Russia.

But Netflix warned that more losses are coming, and it hinted it will start to crack down on account sharing as it pushes to sign up new members.

It estimates more than 100 million households are breaking its rules by sharing passwords.

Boss Reed Hastings said: "When we were growing fast, it wasn't a high priority to work on [acount sharing]. And now we're working super hard on it."

Lucas Shaw, who writes the Screentime newsletter for Bloomberg news, told the BBC that password sharing had been an issue for Netflix "for a long time".

"It feels like the company is trying to identify an area of potential growth," he told the Today programme.

"They've tried to curb password sharing in the past and had a very hard time."
n a letter to shareholders, Netflix said a surge in sign-ups it saw during the pandemic had "obscured the picture" and it warned that another two million subscribers were likely to leave in the three months to July.

"Our revenue growth has slowed considerably as our results and forecast below show," the company said.

"Our relatively high household penetration - when including the large number of households sharing accounts - combined with competition, is creating revenue growth headwinds."

The last time the company lost members in a quarter was October 2011. It still boasts more than 220 million subscribers globally.
Pulling out of Russia, a step Netflix took following the war in Ukraine, cost it 700,000 subscribers, it said.

Another 600,000 people stopped its service in the US and Canada after the price increase, Netflix said.

Netflix said that move was playing out "in line with expectations" and would yield more money for the firm, despite the cancellations.

The firm's revenue in the first three months of the year was up 9.8% compared with the same period last year to more than $7.8bn (£6bn).

That marked a slowdown from earlier quarters, while profits fell more than 6% to roughly $1.6bn.

Losses in the quarter were partially offset by sign-ups elsewhere such as Japan and India.

As it looks to grow, the firm said it is focused on international markets and finding ways to tap the 100 million people it estimates are sharing household accounts, including more than 30 million in the US and Canada.

The company is looking to advertising and getting revenues from customers who share accounts with family or friends..

"Those who have followed Netflix know that I've been against the complexity of advertising, and a big fan of the simplicity of subscription," said Mr Hastings. "But, as much as I'm a fan of that, I'm a bigger fan of consumer choice."

Mr Hastings said "it's pretty clear" that ad-supported services are working for Disney and HBO.

But analysts said rising costs are starting to wear on households.

In the UK, households cancelled more than 1.5 million streaming subscriptions in the first three months of the year, with 38% saying they wanted to save money - the highest level ever, according to research from market research firm Kantar.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61153252

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it's all about price and competition when the cost of living is rising at alarming rates

[Niamh.]

I haven't stopped my subscription yet but that was a massive price hike so I'm considering it if there's a better option. Any suggestions? I do use netflix a lot tbf

[bitontheslide]

there are always dodgy options available, and more and more people will drift over to that, which is a shame, because we will end up with less content

[arista]

Netflix put their prices up.

They never thought it would backfire

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

there are always dodgy options available, and more and more people will drift over to that, which is a shame, because we will end up with less content

Yeah I know about those but actual legit streaming companies I mean. I had a year free subscription with Amazon Prime but I wasn't too into that one

[bitontheslide]

i have a selection of subs. What i find is that I need to be in the mood for a particular type of programme and the variety of subs covers my moods. To me, none of them are enough on their own

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

i have a selection of subs. What i find is that I need to be in the mood for a particular type of programme and the variety of subs covers my moods. To me, none of them are enough on their own

I just find it's handy for the kids to have the multi viewing, when they're in their rooms or wherever and you can download shows/films on to your phone (without worrying about viruses etc) with netflix for if you're travelling

[Nicky91]

i mainly watch Netflix now just for Riverdale, Legends of Tomorrow, Camp Cretaceous, Power Rangers Dino Fury


but i'm also loving Disney+ now, began rewatching Suite Life of Zack & Cody recently busy now with Moon Knight, and because its also on there, maybe when TWD's finale has aired here, maybe thinking of starting over again, another big franchise series which i want to keep rewatching


we have Viaplay for Formula 1 (first time our tv provider does not have rights for that, might tempt to check out some scandinavian series on there too with subs ofc)



i basically have my own netflix and disney+ profile now, find this handy not to get content from what my parents are watching

[Mystic Mock]

I think Netflix needs to create quality TV again.

Love these Shows or not but things like Dark, Sense8, Mindhunter, the first Season's of Stranger Things & 13 Reasons Why, The Haunting Of Hill House, they need to get back to this level because they'll keep losing subscribers if the benchmark in quality is The Witcher Season 2 which was just a training arc essentially.

But of course they're blaming everything but their own incompetence.

[UserSince2005]

Paramount plus really has shook Netflix with their real world homecoming series

[Alf]

Youtube video

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Mystic Mock

I think Netflix needs to create quality TV again.

Love these Shows or not but things like Dark, Sense8, Mindhunter, the first Season's of Stranger Things & 13 Reasons Why, The Haunting Of Hill House, they need to get back to this level because they'll keep losing subscribers if the benchmark in quality is The Witcher Season 2 which was just a training arc essentially.

But of course they're blaming everything but their own incompetence.

I agree, at some point they went for quantity over quality but I think that's party because of the model; if they just have a handful of high-quality, high-budget shows... people could sign up for a couple of months a year (say December and July) and binge all the good content for a fraction of the cost. They're trying to keep people subbed long-term as that's where the money is.

I know a lot of people (students etc.) cycle through subs in this way; they get Netflix for a month and ninge the shows they want to see, cancel and get Disney+ and binge all the new Marvel stuff etc, cancel and get Prime ... etc. and then repeat again a few months later.

I disagree on The Witcher S2 though, I really enjoyed it and in fact preferred it to S1 in many ways.

I also disagree that "13 Reasons Why" is an example of quality, utter pish . Cobra Kai is all the teen drama I need . Probably by merit of being over the top/funny/self-aware.

[Niamh.]

The last season of Cobra Kai was so good I was getting worried that it had given all it could in the 1st 2 seasons because I didn't love S3 but S4 really pulled me back in again

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

The last season of Cobra Kai was so good I was getting worried that it had given all it could in the 1st 2 seasons because I didn't love S3 but S4 really pulled me back in again

Perched for Johnny, Daniel and Kreese forming an unlikely alliance to take on an entire Mexican Cartel using only karate in S5

[James]

Cobra Kai is basically the reason I keep my Netflix subscription, heh. I could get DVDs or buy downloads to watch episodes but S4 isn't out on that yet, and I don't own a blu-ray player either.

I cancelled Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and I'm going to get rid of Xbox Game Pass. I might cancel Disney+ also because Moon Knight isn't really doing it for me (haven't watched the latest episode yet).

[GoldHeart]

Netflix is the only streaming platform I bother with. I noticed there's some new stuff on there I might look at.

But if prices keep going up ,I don't know what they expect customers to do .

[arista]

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I agree, at some point they went for quantity over quality but I think that's party because of the model; if they just have a handful of high-quality, high-budget shows... people could sign up for a couple of months a year (say December and July) and binge all the good content for a fraction of the cost. They're trying to keep people subbed long-term as that's where the money is.

I know a lot of people (students etc.) cycle through subs in this way; they get Netflix for a month and ninge the shows they want to see, cancel and get Disney+ and binge all the new Marvel stuff etc, cancel and get Prime ... etc. and then repeat again a few months later.

I disagree on The Witcher S2 though, I really enjoyed it and in fact preferred it to S1 in many ways.

I also disagree that "13 Reasons Why" is an example of quality, utter pish . Cobra Kai is all the teen drama I need . Probably by merit of being over the top/funny/self-aware.

The Witcher Season 2 just felt like a GOT wannabe imo, with a bizarre amount of focus on Ciri training.

I haven't seen Cobra Kai tbf.

And I feel like Season 1 of 13 Reasons Why was well made for a Teen Show, Season 2 however was garbage.

For me Netflix making things like Bly Manor, Sweet Tooth & Midnight Mass were the death of the platform for me.

The only good Shows on the platform now imo are Arcane & Alice In Borderland out of what I've watched on there.

[Jordan.]

Only giving GLOW the last season it deserved can save them now.

[michael21]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

I haven't stopped my subscription yet but that was a massive price hike so I'm considering it if there's a better option. Any suggestions? I do use netflix a lot tbf

No

[thesheriff443]

I Haven’t got Netflix and rarely watch tv.

[Cherie]

I think this drop is a combination of the price hike and a correction in the market from when people had little else to do during lockdown...

[bitontheslide]

there is lots of good programming to be found on netflix, you just have to try things that don't automatically jump out at you as a must watch

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by James

Cobra Kai is basically the reason I keep my Netflix subscription, heh. I could get DVDs or buy downloads to watch episodes but S4 isn't out on that yet, and I don't own a blu-ray player either.

I cancelled Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and I'm going to get rid of Xbox Game Pass. I might cancel Disney+ also because Moon Knight isn't really doing it for me (haven't watched the latest episode yet).

I got rid of Disney, or rather, I had a year-long sub that expired and I didn't bother to renew. All I watch on it is the Marvel stuff so there's no point keeping it as a permanent fixture, I'll just wait for the Marvel ones I'm interested in to come out and then sub for a month . I don't watch them week to week anyway, I wait for the finale then watch "netflix style".

Prime actually has a lot of good shows... in fact the majority of things we've watched lately that I'd consider actual "good quality viewing" have been via Prime membership. We use Amazon constantly anyway though so we'll always have Prime, for Prime Delivery. Couldn't live without it .

Netflix, as soon as they put the sub cost up, I dropped 4k and went down to the 1080p package. My eyes aren't good enough these days to see any difference from across the room anyway! I like my 4k gaming but honestly 1080p is fine for TV and movies .

[bitontheslide]

Shares in Netflix have slumped by 35% after it revealed a sharp drop in subscribers and warned millions more are set to quit the streaming service.

It wiped more than $50bn off the firm's market value as experts warned it faced a struggle to get back on track.

Netflix faces intense competition from streaming rivals, but was also hit after it raised prices and left Russia.

Yet some cast doubt on its plans to boost growth, which include bringing in a free ad-supported service.

It also plans to crack down on password sharing, estimating that more than 100 million non-paying households watch the service this way.

In a sign of the unease, one of America's best known investors, William Ackman, ditched his $1.1bn investment in Netflix on Wednesday, taking a loss of more than $400m.