Netflix Loses Subscribers for the First Time in 10 Years, Blames Account Sharing

[Realityck]

I pay for Netflix for my parents. They’ve been watching a lot of foreign movies and tv shows which are superior to the American productions. If they didn’t use it so much I would have cancelled it. My personal favorite is HBO Max. It’s the Apple of streaming services. It’s all about quality. That’s one thing that has never really changed. It’s expensive for the amount of content, but it’s well worth it.

Funny I can't get excited about HBO Max, comparably. I hate their web site navigation. Yes it has a lot of movies in HD content, but rather skinflints when it comes to offering anything HDR based.

None of these streaming hosts are ideal, as you said Netflix is a winner when it comes to foreign movies and TV, their Chinese/Taiwan content, South Korea content (movie and TV) and some Japanese content such as TV, anime is exceptional if you like international content. That same content is a negative if your against watching content with subtitles which is why a lot grow tired of watching Netflix and go to HBO Max for films in the English language.

Lets not forget that Tubi is a good free competition to HBO Max, as they host a awful lot of westerns and other content as a example that are lacking on HBO Max. Alternatively EPIX has a large collection of older content not present on HBO Max such as classic films.

Now to the comment about Apple of streaming services if that was the case AT&T would not have dumped WB Media to Discovery so quick if it had been as smartly managed as Apple runs their services. If your looking at Apple like services, as much as a lot of people dislike Netflix they are huge, the runner up is Disney with their Adult oriented portion waiting in the wing for Hulu contract with Comcast to dissolve in the next year or sooner. Then watch out Discovery because Disney buying 21th Century along with everything else they own is a huge film content archive they have't wielded fully yet.

 

[TimFL1]

$20 just to get 4K on increasingly mediocre content without SharePlay compatibility? Hell yeah I'm password sharing! lol.

Not a chance in hell I'd have a recurring sub with their service the way it is right now.

This. I‘m legit debating dropping Netflix since I barely watch anything but the handful of Netflix originals they produce that don‘t suck (like Stranger Things or Black Mirror), which happen like once every 1-2 years and require me the essentially sub for a month only anyways.

Netflix could do so much to properly appeal to me again by finally integrating with the Apple TV app (this is literally where I start my „what do we watch today“ initiative, which means Netflix only ever gets opened as the very last resort once every few weeks) and goddamn SharePlay, which I use a lot with Disney+ and TV+ / iTunes catalogue sharing (family sharing).

Netflix is the Spotify of the movie / tv streaming industry, only there to complain and do anti-consumer stuff like locking high quality playback behind paywalls.

 

[ikir]

I’m using AppleTV+ more than Netflix. I will stop renewing Netflix next year, too expensive.

 

[ikir]

To be subscribed to both, I wouldn't say that Netflix has necessarily better content than Apple TV+, both have great (and not so great) shows and movies. But Netflix has way more content, so for many, it's probably more worth it to be subscribed to Netflix than TV+, I can understand that. Apple TV+ is still a small fish in the streaming services world

All good shows and incredible shows I’ve seen in the last year are on Tv+ like Severance. Netflix has a lot of content with but low quality, 4K is only on top tier and very expensive. Have time to watch 1-3 episode a week and tv+ is more than enough for me

 

[9646829]

I cancelled Netflix at Christmas, they keep putting prices up and cancel everything I like so what’s the point.

 

[alexhardaker]

Hahahahahahahahahaha……..you have to be kidding. What content…all 20 something shows…that’s not content, that’s a joke. But netflix pricing is an equal joke. Extra for 4K. That’s a rip off.

20 shows? It’s not 2019 anymore, so there’s more than that. You should give it a try & look at what there is. I’ve consistently found myself watching 3 or 4 things at a time, with their weekly episode release schedule.

I also partly blame the up next feature on the Apple TV app. Everything else is connected to it but Netflix, so I completely forget about it. Their pricing is ridiculous, yes. I’m only waiting for Stranger Things.

 

[senttoschool]

Really? Netflix subscriber since ‘98. Tired of their price increases.
But I really appreciate ATV. A lot of excellent content.
And not as much trash as on NF.
And we don’t share the account

Yes, really. Most of this site is like this.

If you didn't cancel after the price increase, then you're getting enough value from Netflix.

 

[senttoschool]

That's true. Netflix is definitely light years away from Apple TV+!

Mark

Let's say Apple produces 10 shows. You like 2 of them.

Let's say Netflix produces 100 shows. You like 5 of them. You're getting more content from Netflix.

What people don't understand is that Netflix is a mass global service. It has many different kinds of viewers who like different genres. Netflix produces a little bit of everything to satisfy all their viewer's different tastes.

For example, I'm in Asia right now. No one gives a crap or has heard of Ted. But everyone raves about Korean shows on Netflix.

 

[iHorseHead]

 TV+ is better than Netflix at the moment. It’s been like that for a few months now.

No, it's not. I personally switched to HBO Max, because it has better content than Apple and Netflix and is $4 a month

 

[_Spinn_]

More likely it is because of the price hike and crappy content now that many studios are creating their own streaming services and pulling their content.

 

[iHorseHead]

Actually, HBO Max is pretty awesome. Gobs of content from Warner Brothers at a reasonable price. I watch HBO Max more than Netflix now.

And I don't know about other countries, but in Poland HBO Max is $4 per month while Netflix is $13 a month

 

[Jim Lahey]

Account sharing is obviously a thing but I think the bigger picture is that it's likely people are getting fed up with perpetually haemorrhaging hundreds of dollars a year for decades at a time in order to spend weeks of their life thumbnail-surfing for largely crap content that they'll never own. It's a mug's game and people are starting to understand the rules of engagement.

 

[ksgant]

Netflix is the most expensive, has least must-watch content, smallest back catalog. You have other companies such as Amazon and Apple that have bundles that are cheaper than Netflix (with Apple you can be on one of their Apple One plans and share it with 6 other people and it includes AppleTV+, Apple Arcade, Apple Music), not to mention HBO and Disney that has a great back catalogs...and they're all cheaper than Netflix.

 

[yabeweb]

I guess it was to be expected, I mean they def had a surge of subscribers during pandemics, it was bound to go down after lockdowns...
Now the wy to retain some of them is to lower price not raise them.

While I would keep it if it was cheaper / same price I will def consider removing it if it raises, so raising prices will only result in lowering the userbase.

good decision in the short term as you do not lose money but in the long run you end up with a smaller userbase that might be an issue.

 

[senttoschool]

Netflix is the most expensive, has least must-watch content, smallest back catalog. You have other companies such as Amazon and Apple that have bundles that are cheaper than Netflix (with Apple you can be on one of their Apple One plans and share it with 6 other people and it includes AppleTV+, Apple Arcade, Apple Music), not to mention HBO and Disney that has a great back catalogs...and they're all cheaper than Netflix.

And yet, Netflix is probably the only streaming service that is actually profitable right now and is bigger than anyone else by far.

I guess Netflix found a way to dupe 200 million+ subscribers.

 

[bobmans]

Are they sure it's not because of the constant price hikes and sub-par content they put out?

 

[LarxJo]

I have to pay the max price to have 4K AND multiscreen. I don't need multiscreen. Therefore, I share.
If 4K would be available at a lower price plan, I wouldn't be able to share...

So, the real responsible, is the marketing guys who forced people to take the most expensive plan even though they don't need it and which pushed them to share.

Pushing the customer, is ok, forcing is never a good idea. It pushes either to share the account or close it. On top of it, the catalog gets thinner and thinner (I'm not counting the crappy content which is nothing else than a placeholder to make think there is a lot available), I see more and more good movies and tv shows disappear. Why would I pay more to have less actual content? Why would I pay more to see the critically acclaimed tv-shows be cancelled in favor of crap that nobody watches?

Worse, I'm now forced to "find" those movies somewhere else on Internet as they are not available anywhere anymore in my country... We are back at the time before the streaming. The greed destroyed the solution that was about to end piracy. Bravo!

 

[Kierkegaarden]

I'm afraid you have a very narrow concept of marketing strategy, and market signals specifically. When 100 million customers are synthesizing a product package, it's not "stealing"; it's the company just misreading the market. Netflix bundles and price tiers are such a huge miss that people are constructing their own packaging to provide sufficient value. If Netflix cuts those options without making other options available, such as by unbundling multiple streams and quality tiers, all they are going to do is lose customers, and revenue. They will not make it up. Netflix, with their policy of binge releasing, is frankly the easiest service to cut back to cyclic subscribing. This is me talking from 30 years of product marketing strategy experience. Now, in my case, I'm a year round high quality subscriber, but if Netflix just starts cutting into my travel viewing options or bars me from gifting a streams to one of my kids, without providing other value or flexibility, I'm cutting back to 3 months per year. That would then provide me the best value. I'm sure I'm not alone. I doubt a significant number of satellite users on multi-stream accounts have the means to start signing up for their own accounts, frankly. It would not surprise me if the vast majority are either struggling young adults or barely interested secondary users just latching onto a primary.

Call it whatever you want, but ultimately it is stealing. Could Netflix have figured out a way to turn the 100 million users into paying customers by revamping the subscription tiers? Sure, but that doesn’t change my point — that account sharing is stealing.

As I said, people have tried to justify bad behavior since the beginning of time — and you are trying to legitimize it here by calling it “synthesizing”. It is both an ethical and product marketing issue.

 

[Kaptajn Haddock]

Quantity over quality is why I abandoned Netflix. Along with increased pricing and a horrible user experience - like the changing poster artwork, which makes it impossible to recognize any titles you potentially would like to see. They need to re-invent themselves.

 

[Mug_narwhal.0m]

I am proud to be one of those people who left last week for an overpriced subscription! ?

 

[anthony13]

Im Concerned how this can implemented and tracked. My wife and I both travel for work. We also live in two different locations. So we’re constantly logging in from different ip’s. I don’t see why we should pay extra for that.

 

[kwikdeth]

only reason I keep netflix is I get it for cheap thanks to my tmobile family plan.

 

[44267547]

…..And this is the aftermath of what happens when you see consumer inflation in a market and then added Netflix raising prices at the same time, consumers choose what is a necessity to spend their money on.

I canceled Netflix years ago, but I think companies need to be cautionary of how much they charge and what are they offering in return for a spiked fee.

 

[gmarm]

Of course people will password-share when you cannot transfer profiles between accounts.

People move, people break up, etc.

This should be built in.

 

[foobarbaz]

• Good shows constantly get canceled.

I don't mind so much if good shows get cancelled. Better cancel them while they're still good, I say.
What drives me bonkers is that they don't give those shows proper finales.

Santa Clarita Diet or Glow were decent shows. But without an ending, their re-watch value has dropped to zero. I will not recommend those shows to anyone now.

I think they need to focus more on their bingeable back catalogue and niche offerings instead of only chasing global phenomenons like Squid Game.