Netflix waved goodbye to nearly one million subscribers during the spring, with tougher competition and soaring inflation squeezing budgets in households.
The April to June contraction of 970,000 accounts, announced on Tuesday as part of the business' second-quarter earnings report is by far the companies largest loss in that time frame in their 25 year history.
Although, it could have been much worse for the TV and movie streaming platform, with forecasters anticipating some two million leaving in the quarter itself.
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Netflix is predicted to have been spared further losses by the popularity of Stranger Things, which has just released its fourth season exclusively to the platform. Following its release in late May, Netflix said that viewers watched a total of 1.3 billion hours of it over the next four weeks - more than any other English-language series in the service’s history.
Wales Online reports that the less severe loss in subscribers, combined with an outlook calling for a return to growth in the July-September period, helped lift Netflix’s battered stock by 7% in extended trading after the numbers came out. And the company's co-chief executive, Reed Hastings, didn't attempt to sugar coat things on a conference call this week regarding the results.
“It’s tough losing a million subscribers and calling it a success,” he said.
The April to June regression follows a substantial loss of 200,000 customers during the first three months of the year, making it the first time Netflix's subscriber totals have shrunk in consecutive quarters since the transition from offering DVD-by-mail rentals to video streaming started 15 years ago. The loss of almost 1.2million subs during the first half of the year also provides a stark contrast to the pandemic-driven growth that the company enjoyed in 2020 - with the service acquiring almost 26 million customers.
Despite the downturn, Netflix still earned 1.4 billion dollars (£1.1b), or 3.20 dollars (£2.7) per share during the quarter, a 6% increase from the same time last year. Revenue rose 9% from the same time last year to nearly 8 billion dollars (£6.7b).
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