Posted Jan 21, 2022 at 6:22 AM
Netflix is not very optimistic about its ability to attract new subscribers, at least in the short term. The streaming giant announced on Thursday that it had 221.8 million subscribers. This is a little less than the 222 million he was counting on. For the current quarter, the platform now expects growth of 2.5 million subscribers, a figure well below analysts’ expectations.
Its leaders blame the Covid pandemic in particular, which continues to weigh on the economic outlook in Latin America. ” Retention [des abonnés] and audiences remain strong but new subscriber growth has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels,” they noted in a conference call with analysts.
142 million views for “Squid Games”
In the longer term, Netflix remains optimistic about its ability to grow. Between October and December, the group achieved 7.7 billion dollars in revenue and accumulated 8.28 million new subscribers, a performance in line with market expectations.
Its two CEOs, Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, welcomed the success of series created outside the United States, including “Squid Games”, “Lupin” or “La Casa de Papel”. With 142 million views on the platform, the South Korean drama has been watched by more than two-thirds of Netflix subscribers.
The platform has also successfully invested in big-budget films, including the action flick “Red Notice” and the climate satire “Don’t Look Up”. These two films, which respectively accumulated 364 million and 350 million hours of viewing, broke audience records among subscribers.
This quarter, it will nevertheless be necessary to wait until March to see the return of programs which attract large audiences, including the drama series “Bridgerton”. This partly explains the weaker growth prospects in the immediate future.
Price increase
In the United States and Canada, the platform increased the prices of its subscriptions last week. American subscribers will thus pay 10 dollars for a basic subscription and 20 dollars for a premium subscription, with better image quality. This news had been welcomed for the markets, which sanctioned Netflix for its weaker growth prospects.
In India, Netflix has opted for the opposite strategy, by reducing the price of its subscriptions. The platform faces competition from local channels, in a country where cable subscriptions are very inexpensive. Its leaders still hope to succeed in imposing themselves on this market, believing that it was not “fundamentally different” from the others.
The Californian firm also continues to invest in the video game sector. The platform defines its market as entertainment in the broad sense, and not just video streaming. A Netflix subscription now includes 12 mobile games, available on both Android and iOS. The company continues to “build the piping” to develop more games, assured its leaders.