Today, not only bloggers deal with subscriber losses but also entire companies. For businesses, a decrease in the number of subscribers means the loss of subscription fees and a drop in stock prices.
Popular streaming service Netflix has lost subscribers for the first time in a decade. The company saw its share price falling by a record 27.7% to $348.61 after the release of the quarterly report. The exit from Russia alone cost Netflix 700,000 subscribers. Although this move was expected, the streaming giant still suffered a plunge in its share value.
Nevertheless, the company does not give up and sticks to its plan to hit the target of 2.5 million new paying subscribers, on top of the current 222 million. In the Asia-Pacific region, Netflix gained 1.1 million subscribers in the first quarter. At the same time, it sustained losses in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Nevertheless, the service's revenue still grew by 10%.
People sharing their account passwords with non-paying viewers are partially to blame for the falling number of Netflix subscribers. As many as 100 million viewers have access to the service without paying for it. About 30 million of them are in the United States and Canada. For that reason, the company’s growth prospects turned out to be bleaker than reflected in the report.