As competition draws near from major media companies like Disney and WarnerMedia, Netflix received some bad news as it was reported slower growth than expected for the second quarter. According to the report,
Netflix’s paid memberships grew by 2.7 million from April to June, less than half of the 5.5 million it added during the same period last year. In fact, it lost around 130,000 subscribers in the U.S., where it has more market penetration. The company, which now has just over 151 million total paid members, had projected additions of 5 million during the period and Wall Street, per FactSet, was expecting 5.1 million new subscribers.
Netflix blamed its decline in areas where its price increase went into effect. Netflix announced in January that its plans would go up in price starting with the May billing cycle. Its standard plan now costs $13 in the U.S. Netflix added,
that competition wasn’t a factor, especially since many of the biggest competitors, including HBO Max and Disney+, have yet to launch. Instead, original programming released during the second quarter — including Dead to Me, When They See Us, Murder Mystery and Always Be My Maybe — failed to drive growth. It’s not that the shows weren’t watched by subscribers — Netflix noted that Adam Sandler’s Murder Mystery is the most-watched of his Netflix originals to date, with over 73 million households tuning in during its first four weeks — but that they didn’t entice new subscribers to hand over their credit card information.
As we enter the final 5 months of 2019, Netflix continues to struggle as the streaming war is getting close to commencing.
