Netflix Loses 1 Million Subscribers But Still Beats Estimates
Netflix's 2022 second-quarter earnings have finally come in, with the streamer losing 970,000 subscribers during the three-month period, coming in just short of one million. Those lost subscribers came during the months of April 1st to June 30th, which also happens to be the time that the first part of Stranger Things Season 4 launched. Netflix originally projected to lose two million subscribers for the second quarter of 2022. The first quarter of the year featured a decline of 200,000 subscribers, which came as a surprise to Netflix and marked the first time it lost subscribers since 2011.
"Our revenue growth has slowed considerably as our results and forecast below show," Netflix executives wrote in a press release to its shareholders back in April.
The letter then went on to partially blame the practice of password-sharing for the company's shortfalls.
"Streaming is winning over linear, as we predicted, and Netflix titles are very popular globally. However, our relatively high household penetration – when including the large number of households sharing accounts – combined with competition, is creating revenue growth headwinds," the letter added. "The big COVID boost to streaming obscured the picture until recently. While we work to reaccelerate our revenue growth – through improvements to our service and more effective monetization of multi-household sharing – we'll be holding our operating margin at around 20%."
Season 4 of Stranger Things was a massive hit for Netflix, garnering 13 Emmy nominations. The new season was split up into two parts, and Netflix cleverly staggered its release so the first seven episodes fell during Q2 (May 27th) to encourage new signups, while Part 2 was saved for July 1st so they would debut in Q3.
One of Stranger Things' 13 Emmy nominations was for Outstanding Drama Series, though none of the actors in the series were nominated, which has been a subject of frustration amongst fans. But Stranger Things was recognized for its direction, editing, stunts, and prosthetic makeup.
After waiting three years to see Stranger Things 4, fans are already starting to wonder when the fifth and final installment of the series might arrive.
"It depends who you ask," co-creator Matt Duffer told Collider when asked about a release date. "That's what we're still figuring out. If you ask our AD, and our line producer, they want more time for production. Our post-production supervisor wants more time for post-production. So it's going to be a big discussion. How long does everybody get? Here's the thing, the more you shorten production, the more you shorten post-production, the more things get compromised."
"It's just the balance of, 'Okay, how much are we willing to compromise to get the show out sooner? Is it more important to give everybody the time that they need to get this right, without being indulgent?' I'm sure we'll figure out what that line is, but my whole thing was I was never super worried," he added.
Tuesday saw Netflix stock close at $201.63 per share. Netflix co-CEOs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos will comment on the recent quarter report later today in a pre-recorded web interview.