Netflix has only been spewing good news lately since season three of Stranger Things pulled in the most streams the platform has seen, while numerous new movies and series are announced every day. Unfortunately, you have to experience the lows to enjoy the highs and such is the case for Netflix since its Q2 numbers aren't so high.
The streaming service lost approximately 130,000 subscribers in America in the second quarter of the year. Such a dramatic drop is the first hit the company has taken since it first began and the decline is seemingly in part to the rise in membership costs. “Our missed forecast was across all regions, but slightly more so in regions with price increases,” CEO Reed Hastings wrote in a shareholders letter. “We don’t believe competition was a factor since there wasn’t a material change in the competitive landscape during Q2, and competitive intensity and our penetration is varied across regions.”
Reed even addressed the loss of Friends and The Office, two very popular shows for subscribers. “Much of our domestic, and eventually global, Disney catalog, as well as Friends, The Office, and some other licensed content will wind down over the coming years, freeing up budget for more original content,” he added. “From what we’ve seen in the past when we drop strong catalog content (Starz and Epix with Sony, Disney, and Paramount films, or second run series from Fox, for example) our members shift over to enjoying our other great content.”