Netflix Subscriber Loss: Netflix rocked by subscriber loss, may offer cheaper ad-supported plans, ET BrandEquity
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Profit of $3.10 a share also topped estimates, while the number of paying customers increased to 223.1 million. They are up more than 20%, outperforming other mega technology companies included in the FAANG group of stocks. The company plans to introduce its budget-friendly option in the final three months of the year across at least half a dozen geographies. However, the full rollout may have to wait until early next year, the report said.
Netflix’s first-quarter revenue grew 10% to $7.87 billion, slightly below Wall Street’s forecasts. It suffered losses of 8 per cent and 37 per cent in advertising revenue and content revenue respectively. Netflix shares on Tuesday rose as much as 4.5% to $312.71, FIXT 1.1: Session Protocol – FIX Dictionary – Onix Solutions the highest price in about six months. As consumer spending heads for a potential slowdown with the rising risk of a recession, and cost pressures remain elevated, investors have begun to judge growth-oriented companies in terms of their profit margins.
Investors shunned the California-based media company on concerns that the best days of its growth are behind it and fears that it will struggle to compete in the crowded video-streaming market. According to The Verge, Netflix tested a mechanism in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, which informed the streaming services provider when an account was being used outside the user’s location. “Netflix may have benefited from a price cut it implemented in India, one of the largest markets in the region, in December 2021. However, the strategy affected the company’s average revenue per member in the region.
Netflix Might Introduce Ads, and Twitter Has Some Thoughts
“They suffered from a combination of approaching saturation, inflation, higher pricing, the war in Ukraine and competition,” said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter. This confluence of factors resulted in Netflix reporting losing customers for the first time since October 2011, catching Wall Street by surprise. Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here. After the earnings release, it admitted to increasing pressure from competitors. “We’re definitely feeling higher levels of market penetration and heightened competition,” said Ted Sarandos, Co-Chief Executive. While most of users hate the idea of advertisements some Twitter users point the about the amount amazing content on the site and how they still will support Netflix because of their exceptional content.
Netflix’s first-quarter revenue grew 10% to $7.87 billion, slightly below Wall Street’s forecasts. It reported per-share net earnings of $3.53, beating the Wall Street consensus of $2.89. While the company remains bullish on the future of streaming, it blamed its slowing growth on a number of factors, such as the rate at which consumers adopt on-demand services, a growing number of competitors and a sluggish economy. Account-sharing is a longstanding practice, though Netflix is exploring ways to derive revenue from the 100 million households watching Netflix through shared accounts, including 30 million in the United States and Canada. Now, it appears the culprit is a combination of competition and the number of accounts sharing passwords, making it harder to grow. However, a recent EY-FICCI report suggested that less than 10 per cent of the total 50.3 crore Indian consumers pay for the subscription services.
Netflix rocked by subscriber loss, may offer cheaper ad-supported plans
“While hundreds of millions of homes pay for Netflix, well over half of the world’s broadband homes don’t yet — representing huge future growth potential,” the company said in a statement. “While hundreds of millions of homes pay for Netflix, well over half of the world’s broadband homes don’t yet — representing huge future growth potential,” the company said in a statement. The stock could benefit as the company expands ad-supported subscriptions and cracks down on password sharing. “Those who have followed Netflix know that I’ve been against the complexity of advertising, and a big fan of the simplicity of subscription.
Its average revenue per user in the US and Canada is almost double of that in Asia-Pacific and Latin America. According to an analysis by Comparitech, its ARPU in India ($9.70) in Q1 of 2021 was the same as the ARPU in richer countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea. Netflix had posted huge growth in the initial months of the Covid-19 pandemic when most people were stuck at home due to lockdowns. However, the same company’s stock went tumbling 26 per cent on Tuesday, erasing almost $40 billion or nearly half of its stock market value.
Disney+ said it earned an overall average of $4.35 per month from each customer this quarter, however if Disney+ Hotstar is excluded, the ARPU rises to $6.29 per month. He also noted that India is one of the only markets in which they are launching new linear channels. “As you may know we recently made the disciplined decision to not proceed with the Indian Premier League digital rights and we’ll evaluate these rights with that same discipline” she said. Get live Share Market updates and latest India News and business news on Financial Express. This subscription may include Netflix’s original titles, but it is just speculation. A new season of British royal family drama “The Crown” and a sequel to 2019 movie “Knives Out” will be released during the fourth quarter.
Netflix now aims to work on more affordable, ad-supported subscription plans over the year or two, Hastings announced. Ted Sarandos, CEO of Netflix has further confirmed that the platform will roll out ad-supported plans soon, but no time was mentioned. Also, Netflix was quite worried and was concerned about the factors of password-sharing, as Netflix did not want this to happen. Zaslav has planned to merge the two into a singular service by spring 2023, with a possible ad-supported tier.
EVENTS
It was reported that Netflix lost around 2 lakh followers in the past 12 months. The video streaming giant also fired more than 300 employees because of the losses which the company experienced. Netflix had last month announced that it is bringing a new plan in addition to the ad-free Basic, Standard, and Premium plans that will show ads to users. Netflix says that its aim is to give users more options and a better-than-linear TV brand experience for advertisers. While the company’s move to curb password sharing may make many non-paying Netflix watchers angry, the streaming service has also decided to launch a less expensive ad-supported tier next month.
BofA estimated the Basic AVOD tier could drive $719 million in revenue in the United States and Canada in 2024. Netflix shares could rise 24% from current levels to hit $370, Bank of America said Tuesday. Despite this positive trajectory, the biggest dilemma for investors is whether this momentum is sustainable amid the challenging economic environment and the competitive landscape in the streaming industry.
Because Netflix lacks the foundation for an ad-supported model, it will most likely be at least a year before consumers see a lower-priced tier option. It is fairly common to use your friend’s Netflix password, something most college-goers do. In a bid to crackdown this practice, starting 2023, the streaming service is planning to allow users to create sub-accounts to “monetize account sharing” more widely, says a report by The Verge. It has recently started asking customers in Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic to pay an extra fee if the account is used in more than one home.
- “We’re definitely feeling higher levels of market penetration and heightened competition,” said Ted Sarandos, Co-Chief Executive.
- A lower-priced tier could help Netflix reduce the number of people canceling their service or appeal to new customers in markets where growth has slowed.
- “When we were growing fast, it wasn’t a high priority to work on,” Hastings said of account-sharing in remarks during Netflix’s investor video.
- Benchmark analyst Matthew Harrigan warned that the uncertain global economy “is apt to emerge as an albatross” for member growth and Netflix’s ability to continue raising prices as competition intensifies.
- Netflix now aims to work on more affordable, ad-supported subscription plans over the year or two, Hastings announced.
While Netflix is making various changes to propel growth, the company said it remained committed to producing original programming and releasing all episodes at once for binge watching. The company’s forecast of 4.5 million customer pickups by the year’s end came in slightly ahead of Wall Street estimates, which had averaged 4.2 million. https://1investing.in/ For the fourth quarter, Netflix projected revenue of $7.8 billion, a sequential decline it blamed on the strong value of the U.S. dollar. Netflix estimated that competitors would end 2022 with combined operating losses of “well over $10 billion,” compared with Netflix’s annual operating profit of $5 billion to $6 billion.
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Hastings told investors that the pandemic had “created a lot of noise,” making it difficult for the company to interpret the surge and ebb of its subscription business over the last two years. This might interest you but there are a number of competitors of Netflix who are the rivals based in India and they have low-cost ad-supported plans. Streaming platforms like Zee5, Disney+ Hotstar, Voot and MX Player are a few to name, which offer ad-supported subscription plans to the users. There are “legitimate shorter-term concerns” such as inventory glut, competition, and a softening macro backdrop, said BofA, but Netflix’s advertising-based video-on-demand, or AVOD, offering will be accretive on the company’s ability to drive engagement. As well, there should be “extraordinary advertiser demand” as they reach for Netflix’s younger viewers and for cord-cutters.
Shares of Netflix jumped 14% in after-hours trading, boosted in part by the streaming giant’s forecast that it would pick up 4.5 million customers in the fourth quarter. The company’s stock, an investor favorite during its years of rapid growth, had fallen nearly 60% this year before the earnings report. After years of red-hot growth, Netflix’s fortunes have reversed as rivals including Walt Disney Co, Warner Bros Discovery and Apple Inc invest heavily in their own streaming services.
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The service currently operates on a freemium model wherein it offers some content on a free ad-supported model, unlike Disney+ which only offers paid subscriptions at present, although a ad-supported tier is expected to be launched on December 8, 2022. In its earnings video, Netflix indicated the company is still talking with major studios to bring content into this special tier with ads. “Thank God we’re done with shrinking quarters,” said Co-CEO Reed Hastings, adding the company needs to continue gathering momentum by focusing on content, marketing and a lower-priced plan with advertising. Netflix Inc reversed customer losses that had hammered its stock this year and projected more growth ahead, reassuring Wall Street as it prepares to offer a new streaming option with advertising. In April, the company said it was addressing customer defections in part by planning a crackdown on password-sharing and launching the less-expensive tier with advertising. Last week, Netflix announced Microsoft Corp as its technology and sales partner for the ad-supported offering.
In its quarterly report, Netflix says, “The appreciation of the US dollar vs. most other currencies since our April earnings report was the primary reason for the variance to our revenue guidance forecast”. Netflix had warned in April that it expected to lose 2 million customers in the current quarter, shocking Wall Street and raising questions about its long-term growth prospects. Exchange4media was set up in year 2000 with the aim of publishing niche, relevant and quality publications for the marketing, advertising and media professionals. Netflix has laid considerable groundwork on this front, expanding in phases and catering to specific local needs. Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times’ newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we’ve got you covered.
To expand its customer base, especially in international markets, it has to bring its price down, without denting its operating margins. While the higher number of customers would offset some of the costs, it might not be enough given the appetite for domestic content. The majority of Gen Z and Millennial consumers polled said they spend more time watching user-created videos like those on TikTok and YouTube than watching films or shows on a streaming service. The recent rebound in Netflix stock has raised hopes that the streaming giant is back on a growth path after a tough year that turned many investors away from this tech darling of the past decade. That said, there is not much upside potential from here as investors await the outcome of the company’s latest growth initiatives, including its ad-supported service.
Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and other companies also offer, or plan to offer, ad-supported options. For the third quarter, Netflix topped analyst projections with revenue of $7.9 billion, up 6% from a year earlier. Elon Musk sent a message to Twitter staff telling them that they had until Thursday to consider whether they wanted to stay on for “working long hours at high intensity” or take a severance package of three months’ pay. According to media reports, during a press conference announcing the new tier, Netflix described it as “pro-consumer”. The plan will display four to five minutes of ads an hour and ads will typically be 15 seconds or 30 seconds long, playing before and during content. One market observer said Netflix’s stock has benefited from expectations of perpetual growth.
In June, Disney Star had said in a statement that it will focus on growing its slate of original entertainment content for Disney+ Hotstar and its television channels in the region, apart from exploring other multiplatform cricket rights. Even as the entertainment conglomerate lost the streaming rights, Walt Disney’s India subsidiary Disney Star had bagged the five-year television rights for IPL at Rs 23,575 crore. In July, the company chose Microsoft as the technology and sales partner for the ad-supported subscription plan.