It’s hard to remember life before major streaming services. Regardless of whether you’re a Hulu hound, an HBO Max habitué, a Disney Plus devotee, or a Prime patron, it’s likely that you are a faithful subscriber to at least one streaming service. But one streaming service, perhaps the most famed, esteemed service of them all, has fallen down a rabbit hole (seemingly to the point of no return). Netflix, the OG streaming service, has lost subscribers for the first time in over one decade, bringing an end to the Netflix reign.
Netflix has reported a loss of 200,000 subscribers. While this is less than 0.1% of its userbase, it “was enough to send Wall Street panicking, with shares plunging more than 30 percent.” While this drop seems minimal, it seems as if the worst is yet to come; “The company anticipates a much larger drop in its second quarter—of around two million net subscribers,” and they expect to see very minimal growth in subscribers for the remainder of 2022 and throughout 2023.
Netflix also cites the war in Russia as a reason for the major loss in subscribers after its “decision to drop all its subscribers in Russia.” There’s also the problem that there’s too much competition, and people have resorted to subscribing to far too many streaming services to obtain the content they want to see. Because of this, increasing rates can quickly influence customers to unsubscribe to a streaming service. However, to Netflix’s benefit, “According to Deloitte, 25 percent of U.S. customers have canceled a streaming service only to resubscribe to it within a year.”
Netflix has also been seeing more backlash in recent years. While it used to seem like there wasn’t anything that Netflix didn’t have, now many users spend hours flipping through suggestions trying to find something remotely interesting to watch. Of course, I’ve tried Netflix’s new shuffle feature “Play Something,” but I’m never satisfied with what they choose for me. More recently, shows like “The Crown,” “Ozark,” and “Bridgerton,” have allowed Netflix to stay in the running. However, these shows will soon be ending, and Netflix has few franchises to replace these popular ones.
But, if the trends of increasing prices and uninteresting content continue, there may be more losses in subscribers in Netflix’s future. Netflix has plans to also start incorporating ads into their service to account for the loss in subscribers and to try to decrease their rising prices. Netflix has long been a firm believer in no-ads to set them apart from its competitors, but it seems that ads are its only avenue to success. If these ads don’t significantly decrease prices, this may be the death of Netflix.
That’s not to say that there’s no hope for Netflix. They’ve spearheaded the streaming service movement and have seemed to dominate for quite a while now. I’ve always had a soft spot for Netflix. While I don’t pay much attention to their new content, there’s a certain comfort in knowing that many of my favorite comfort shows reside through Netflix. And while I’m not ready to give up my subscription just yet, the unfavorable changes may just force my hand.
Technically Speaking is an Opinion culture column used to discuss topics relating to technology, such as pop culture, trends, social media, or other relevant subject matter.
Be First to Comment