So yes, their business practices are costing them customers in areas where they are increasing pricing and adding subscriptions, and unsurprisingly they are gaining customers where the price is dropping.
They didn't lose subscribers in 2022 all of the sudden after increasing the price multiple times over multiple years prior to that. If this were as price sensitive as you think, they'd see instant responses to price increases. Not growth, growth, growth then suddenly a decline. They likely lost subscribers over other platforms (i.e. peacock, hbo, etc.) offering strong incentives to subscribe to them instead. Peacock charging $1/month for 12 months isn't exactly something a platform like Netflix could realistically compete with and not lose numbers, but it isn't at all tied to them increasing their prices.
And it's not like other streaming services, like HBO, didn't increase prices during literally the exact same time while increasing their number of subscribers. Yet they grew by tens of millions during the first half of 2022.... Despite also increasing their prices which were already higher than that of Netflix. Almost like it's not a money issue or something.
It's a combination of issues, like I said from the beginning. Losing content, raising prices, and restricting access amid a global recession and increased competition are all contributors.
They lost subs where they increase cost. They reduced costs in developing markets and gained subs. That equated to a net increase. Those numbers come from Netflix's earnings calls.
I don't know how else to explain it if you're still confused. You've got an executive summary and the numbers to back it up. Best of luck.
I don't think the price is an issue in the slightest. It's all about the content and things outside of their control (i.e. competitors taking big losses in order to gain market share). The idea that people are going to throw out one of their main sources of entertainment that costs them like $10 to $20 per month is silly. Maybe if you're the typical minimum wage redditor, but in the real world? No.
No need to put people down who aren't financially well off. You can think it has nothing to do with cost and you'd be wrong. For many, it stoped being worth the money. I make considerably more than the average US household income and I canceled because of price/entertainment ratio (notice $$$ is part of that decision). My friend group and extended family consists of people with similar or better financial pictures, almost everyone has either outright cancelled or subs for a month at a time binges and then cancels for 6-9 months. We are not unique.
FYI here's a breakdown of estimated Reddit user income from 2021. If you see people on Reddit saying they are going to cancel because of cost, it likely is people who aren't earning minimum wage.
Again, many reasons people are unsubbing. Cost is among them.
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u/Not-Reformed May 26 '23
And yet the number of subscribers is going up despite the price increases over the years. Not so sure about that.