Netflix loses subscribers for the first time in a decade
Sylvie Claire / April 20, 2022
After years of conquering users at high speed, streaming giant Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers worldwide in the first quarter compared to the end of 2021, the first time it has lost more than a decade. And it expects to lose even more in the spring.
The streaming giant explained that this decline was mainly related to the difficulty of acquiring new subscribers in all regions of the world, but also to the suspension of the service in Russia.
The industry pioneer had inflated numbers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The market was expecting a correction but not as strong.
Netflix had expected to gain an additional 2.5 million subscribers - and analysts were expecting even more - but instead lost some, bringing its total to 221.64 million subscriptions.
The suspension of our service in Russia and the gradual decrease in the number of Russian paying subscribers resulted in a net loss of 700,000 subscriptions. Without this impact, we would have had 500,000 additional subscriptions compared to last quarter, the California-based company said in its earnings release.
Netflix's subscriber loss is very telling for a company that has been steadily gaining subscribers for an entire decade, reacted Ross Benes, analyst at eMarketer.
With subscriptions down, and weak growth prospects, Netflix is going to have to rely more on ancillary lines of business, such as video games or merchandising to try to grow its revenues, he added.