Netflix Loses More Subscribers, Plans Cheaper Version With Ads

The world’s biggest streamer lost 970,000 customers in the three months ended June 30, the company announced in its second-quarter earnings report on Tuesday, ahead of its dire prediction of losing two million in April.

It’s been a bad few months in terms of business for the streaming service, which has propelled the TV and film industries since it debuted original programming nearly 10 years ago. After a 71% drop in its stock price over the past year, the company is testing fees for password sharing in Latin America and is planning a cheaper version of the service with ads — a major reversal. In – and employee layoffs have made news, Disney+ and Hulu’s competitors turn a profit from HBO Max.

So what’s happening at Netflix? And more importantly, do you get to see it when you chill on Saturday night?

We talked to entertainment industry experts about what’s happening at Netflix and what might happen next. It can be a wild ride like any Netflix original series.

Streaming video analytics company NPAW CEO Ferran G. “The loss of subscribers appears to be due to increased competition from other streaming services, unfavorable global economic conditions, and the company’s already very high level of subscribers,” says Villero. is a dwarf total 74 million HBO Max and . for 87.6 million For Disney+, which is available in fewer countries.

At some point, there may be a limit to how many people want to subscribe to the streaming service.

“The scale of such ambition is impressive, but it turns out it is unsustainable,” says Noonan, who cites the easing of pandemic restrictions as one of the reasons some may ditch the ‘flix. Consumers are “watching their streaming bills closely and asking, ‘Do I really need all this content, and more importantly, can I afford it?

Netflix said Tuesday that a lower-priced, ad-supported tier of Netflix subscriptions will be arriving in early 2023. The service didn’t say exactly how those ads would appear, and in which markets they’d appear first. “Like most of our new initiatives, we intend to launch, listen and learn, and iterate quickly to improve the offering. Therefore, in a few years, our advertising business will look quite different from what it looked like on day one. will give.”

Similar plans are already available from HBO Max, Hulu, and Peacock (which also offer a free ad-supported tier), and soon Disney+ will join their ranks. It’s just a matter of how long it takes to Netflix, Joe last week agreed to partner with Microsoft to help get it up and running.

Price not yet announced (most basic current The ad-free monthly subscription costs $9.99, but the standard tier is $16.49 and it’s unclear how the ads will fit into the programming. Will they be jammed in between episodes, never designed for them with natural breaks, like there are for network series? Noonan says, “The elegance (of TV commercials) comes when they think about how many ads to put, where to put them, and at what speed.

Netflix ads can also be tailored specifically for their customers.

“The industry is increasingly moving towards highly targeted and personalized ads that can maximize value for advertisers,” Villaro says. “Netflix certainly has the necessary data capabilities to implement these types of ads, but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily do so.”