Netflix reverses subscriber loss with big hits, adds 2.4 mn from July-Sep

Password-sharing crackdown: Company shares details

Netflix has stopped losing customers, after struggling to hold on to them in the face of competition and pressures from the rising cost of living.
 

The streaming giant said it added 2.4 million households to its subscriber base over the July to September period. That reversed the losses it suffered in the first half of the year after raising its prices in key markets.
 

“After a challenging first half, we believe we’re on a path to reaccelerate growth,” the company said in a letter to investors.
 

It is also rolling out a number of changes intended to restore its fortunes, including launching a less expensive option with advertisements next month. New charges aimed at people who share their accounts, will start to be implemented more broadly in early 2023.
 

That news comes a day after the company said it had created a way to transfer user’s profiles along with viewing histories and preferences, to new accounts, so personalised settings would not be lost.
 

Analysts said the changes should help the company make more money. But  remain doubtful that the firm, already a mainstay of households in many countries has much more room to grow, where much of the competition has also seen subscriber growth plateau in recent months.
 

Sign-ups in the Asia-Pacific region drove growth in the most recent quarter, putting its subscriber total above 223 million, Netflix said. 

But after a boom during the pandemic, the company has struggled to attract new sign-ups —  and maintain the loyalty of existing members.
 

Price hikes in major markets, contributed to the problem, especially as the rising cost of living leads to people cutting back. The company also faces fierce competition from the likes of YouTube, Apple TV, HBO Max, Amazon Prime and Disney+.
 

Shares in the company have sunk significantly this year, prompting the firm to slash jobs and reconsider core tenets of its business, like advertising and drawing out the release of hit shows, like Stranger Things, which saw its latest season released in two batches.
 

Executives also made the case that they were ahead of the competition in figuring out how to create shows and turn a profit.
 

“It's hard to build a large and profitable streaming business — our best estimate is that all of these competitors are losing money on streaming,” the company wrote, adding that the streaming landscape will shift again as competitors stop pouring money into developing their new streaming services and focus on the bottom line.

Now watching

• Stranger Things 
• Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
• Cobra Kai
• The Crown

In Perspective

• Netflix currently accounts for over 8% of all video viewing time in the UK, and  7.6% of TV viewing time in  the US
• That is neck-and-neck with YouTube in the US, but well ahead of  Amazon and Disney
• The firm’s shares jumped 14% after it forecast it would pick up 4.5 mn customers in Q4
• Netflix is gunning for the TV business: its $153 bn pool of global advertising revenue