The number of Netflix subscribers keeps decreasing. Tuesday saw the publication of the company’s second-quarter results statement (Q2 2022), as well as an earnings interview in which it emphasised subscriber losses for two consecutive quarters for the first time ever. In the June quarter, it lost around 970,000 paying customers, which is still less than the two million it had anticipated losing. The massive streaming service lost approximately 200,000 paying users in the March quarter (Q1 2022). There are currently 220.67 million paying members globally, according to the corporation. With sales in the April–June quarter of $7.9 billion, up just 8.6% year–over–year, the corporation, which has long been used to seeing double digit growth, is currently experiencing its most dramatic downturn in years.
As investors grow pessimistic about the company’s future, the share price has fallen more than 60% so far this year. According to Insider Intelligence analyst Ross Benes, “Netflix’s subscriber loss was predicted, but it remains a sore point for a corporation that is totally dependent on subscription revenue from customers.”Netflix is still the market leader in video streaming, but unless it discovers more popular properties, it may soon find it difficult to stave off challengers that are vying for its dominance. In after-hours trading, shares increased by more than 7% on relief that the losses were not greater. The company has issued a warning that it may lose up to two million members. Netflix claims that it will accelerate growth by launching a new service that will be monetized by advertisements and by cracking down on password sharing, which according to one research costs Netflix $6 billion annually. In order to prevent customers from violating the sharing regulations, Netflix is also intent on making the new system foolproof. Even while travelling, Netflix is accessible, and the primary account holder will frequently be prompted to confirm the devices they are accessing the service on. So far, Netflix has offered these choices in about 10 different nations, and more are probably going to be introduced in the upcoming months.

By Subhechcha Ganguly