Netflix Loses 200,000 Subscribers In Last 3 Months, Expects 2 Million More To Leave Soon

In a recent letter to shareholders, Netflix has announced that its revenue growth has "slowed considerably" as 200,000 global subscribers have unsubscribed from the service. The streaming giant expects to lose another 2 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2022.

The report then had the further knock-on effect of sending Netflix stock as much as 24% in after hours trading. As CNN reported back in January, Netflix's stock also previously fell as much as 20% in after hours trading due to a bad outlook on its future growth. Elsewhere in the letter, Netflix estimates that 100 million people are using shared passwords--further sapping potential revenue--which isn't surprising to hear as a reported pain point, as in March the streaming service said straight-up that password-sharing is "impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films."

Although Netflix has tons of highly-anticipated content right around the corner for this year, it's plausible that Season 4 of Stranger Things (May 27), Season 5 of The Crown (November 2022), and Sandman (2022) won't be enough to combat these losses and turn the tide. Earlier this month, Netflix added a new "two thumbs up" option for rating content earlier this month, but that hardly makes the service more enticing in the face of recent price hikes announced in January.

Netflix faces growing competition from rival services, which the streaming service also acknowledged in its letter to shareholders, while noting that "competition for viewing with linear TV as well as YouTube, Amazon, and Hulu has been robust for the last 15 years, Netflix notes there is simply no denying that the last three years--overlapping with the pandemic and people being far more ravenous for streaming content--has woken the world and traditional entertainment companies to realize that "streaming is the future."