Netflix is experiencing the toughest time in more than a decade, as subscribers opt for cheaper services in the streaming industry.
The platform has seen a drop in subscription rate by 200,000 in the first quarter of 2022 against its target of two million subscribers three months ago.
“Our revenue growth has slowed considerably,” the firm told shareholders on Tuesday after publishing its first quarter results.
“Our relatively high household penetration when including the large number of households sharing accounts – combined with competition, is creating revenue growth headwinds.”
The last time the company lost members in a quarter was October 2011 and it warned that growing numbers would cut ties this year.
This was after it bungled a move from DVD-mailing and tried hiking prices at the same time.
It got into streaming, with Hollywood’s mostly unwitting help, long before Hollywood figured out streaming was going to be really big.
According to VOX Netflix spent years telling investors that the fact that Disney, Hulu, HBO, Paramount, Peacock, Apple, Amazon, and many more competitors were following in its footsteps and taking stuff that used to run on Netflix and running it on their own services was fine.
Now, the company says, it turns out that people are watching some of those other streaming services, too.
Those competitors aren’t just a problem because they’re trying to take away Netflix customers’ time and subscription dollars. They’re also a problem because they’re taking away content Netflix used to have.
The firm remains the world’s leading streaming service, with more than 220 million subscribers, but it said a surge in sign-ups during the pandemic had “obscured the picture” around its growth.
