Not that long ago, streaming services seemed to be a cheaper and more convenient alternative to cable. But now, the combination of rising living costs and an excessive variety of new platforms means that millions of subscribers are opting out.
By Gintaras Radauskas
Original article published at: https://cybernews.com/news/streaming-services-ways-stop-great-unsubscribe/
Companies are rushing to stop the Great Unsubscribe, though, and some of them, namely Netflix, have been quite successful. This streaming giant just announced it has reversed the subscriber slump and added 2.4 million subscribers from July through September – twice as much as it lost in the first half of 2022.
However, enthusiastic tweets by observers do not mean the current situation is sustainable in the longer run. Sure, Netflix's numbers are great at first glance: the company’s shares jumped 14% after it forecasted it would pick up 4.5 million customers in the fourth quarter.
But Netflix is still lagging behind HBO Max in the US on-platform movie-share department, according to leading industry analysts Parrot Analytics, while the actual share of the global market shrank from 45.8% in the third quarter of 2021 and is now sitting at 40.9%.
Finally, yes, the subscriber base is growing again after a half-year pause, but Netflix’s revenue dropped to $7.92 billion and is down from $7.97 billion in the second quarter of 2022.
Besides, inflationary pressures, especially in the US and UK, are going nowhere. As a growing number of people have no other option but to save cash, the majority of them choose to cancel digital subscriptions.
The craving to take it easy
“It’s no secret that subscription fatigue is at an all-time high. Consumers are overwhelmed with the number and cost of subscription services vying for their eyeballs and dollars. Gone are the times when the main competitor to Netflix was sleep,” Dan Goman, CEO of Ateliere Creative Technologies, a cloud-native digital media supply chain and distribution platform, told Cybernews.
Netflix’s Co-Chief Executive Officer, Reed Hastings, said just that in 2017, when he claimed that the service is competing with sleep – and winning. When people see a new show or a movie they’re dying to watch, they often stay up and binge, thus losing precious shut-eye time.