The streaming giant Netflix announced on Tuesday July 19 that it had lost 970,000 subscribers between the first and second quarters, instead of two million, as it had indicated in its forecasts. The service, which now has 220.67 million subscribers worldwide, was a major disappointment in April when it admitted to losing subscribers for the first time in a decade in the first quarter.
A sign that the news reassured the market, its stock rose more than 8% in electronic trading after the close of the New York Stock Exchange. The Californian group published a turnover of 7.97 billion dollars for the period from April to June, a result lower than expectations, which it put in particular on the account of an unfavorable exchange rate. On the other hand, it made 1.44 billion in net profit, better than expected. And it plans to regain one million subscribers in the third quarter, and thus reach 221.67 million paying subscribers, a figure nevertheless still below that of the end of 2021.
The pioneer of the sector is no doubt counting, to achieve this, on the success of the fourth season of the science fiction and teenage adventure series Stranger Things, which has just concluded, and on the imminent release of The Gray Man, a film from the Russo Brothers, makers of Avengers: Endgame.
In the first quarter, the pioneer of the sector had lost 200,000 subscribers worldwide compared to the end of 2021. The news had plunged its stock price by 25%, especially since the leaders had planned to gain 2, another 5 million. And while its revenue continues to rise, its share of the subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) service pie is shrinking, according to eMarketer.
The specialist firm estimates that Netflix will fall to less than 30% of SVoD revenues in the United States by the end of the year, compared to almost half in 2018. “They are facing market saturation” , notes Ross Benes, an analyst at eMarketer. “They will continue to test different levers like advertising, video games and password sharing restrictions to improve their revenue. »
The bosses of the platform have indeed announced in April their intention to offer a cheaper subscription formula, but with advertising, after years of refusing this less prestigious solution. Last week, the company clarified that the new subscription would be in addition to the three options already available (“Essential”, “Standard” and “Premium”), the cheapest being ten dollars per month in the United States. Microsoft will be responsible for designing and managing the platform for advertisers wishing to serve ads on the hugely popular service.
In April, Netflix also indicated that it was going to tighten the screw on the side of the sharing of identifiers and passwords, which allow many people to access the content of the platform without paying. The slowing of the platform’s so far unhindered growth has also translated into layoffs: over 400 employees were laid off in the past quarter, mostly in the US.
