The streaming giant Netflix has reported losing subscribers for the second quarter in a row Tuesday with nearly one million subscribers lost between April and July as the number of people quitting the service accelerated.
The company assured investors of better days ahead while the firm’s chief executive, Reed Hastings, said: “If there was a single thing, we might say ‘Stranger Things.'”.
Netflix with just shy of 221 million subscribers and the company reported its first subscriber loss since 2011 in April the news that was followed by hundreds of job cuts and a sharp drop in its share price.
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“Tough in some ways, losing a million and calling it success, but really we are set up very well for the next year,” said Reed Hastings in an earnings presentation.
The subscriber losses reported on Tuesday were the biggest in the firm’s history, with the US and Canada home to the highest number of cancellations in the quarter, followed by Europe, but Netflix shares were up slightly in after-market trades, a sign that investors were remaining faithful.
Analysts noted that the results, even if not as poor as feared, were still troubling for Netflix, which enjoyed years of seemingly unstoppable growth, as it revolutionised the way people around the world consumed entertainment.
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The company said it is aiming to have an account-sharing payment system deployed broadly by next year and is working with Microsoft to launch a cheaper subscription plan that includes advertisements, which The New York Times has reported could launch by the end of this year.
Its position as a global behemoth was cemented when the pandemic hit in 2020 and people, stuck at home with few other options for entertainment, flocked to monster hits like Squid Game and The Crown while the Netflix opted to develop the lower-cost offering after a disappointing first quarter in which it lost subscribers for the first time in a decade.
Microsoft will design and manage the platform for advertisers who want to serve ads to Netflix users.
