Netflix Loses Nearly 1 Million Subscribers in Quarter 2

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Netflix lost nearly 1 million subscribers during the second quarter of 2022. According to the company's earnings records, some 970,000 of its 221 million subscribers had cut their subscriptions.

"[The situation is] tough in some ways, losing a million and calling it success, but really we are set up very well for the next year," Netflix co-chief and founder Reed Hastings said on Wednesday, July 20. 

However, the number of subscriptions lost is actually lower than earlier projections, which was pegged at 2 million.

In the quarter, Netflix recorded steepest quarterly declines in subscriptions since its founding, mostly from the US and Canada. At the same time, the company stock price fell.

Among factors blamed for causing the drop in subscription are competition from other streaming services and the hike in subscription fee.  The company's executive director for ampere analysis Guy Bisson said that losing customers is something inevitable.

"When you're the leader, there's only one direction to go, especially when a large amount of competition launches, which is what Netflix has seen in the last couple of years," he said.

This is not the first time the video streaming company has lost subscribers. In April 2011, Netflix reported its first subscriber's loss, which forced the company to cut jobs.

Despite lost subscribers, Netflix's profit in the second quarter was recorded at US$1.4 billion, up from US$1.3 billion. The company's annual revenue grew 9.6 percent to U$7.9 billion.

Muhammad Hendartyo

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