After a decade of growth that rocked Hollywood, This week it was revealed that Netflix, streaming service company, lost 200 thousand subscribers in the first quarter of 2022.
The news took the film industry and entrepreneursincluding the richest man in the world, Elon Musk.
The owner of Tesla reacted to the collapse of Netflix on his social networks, where he launched himself against the platform and argued that the loss of subscribers is due to the “Woke virus”.
“The virus of the awakened mind (woke) is making Netflix unwatchable,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
The businessman’s comment referred to the Woke culture, which is related to raising awareness of racism in the United States and around the world. The word Woke in English means “awake”.
In addition, Musk asked the streaming company create more science fiction or fantasy content.
The woke mind virus is making Netflix unwatchable
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2022
Netflix’s lockdown and its reasons
And if that was not enough, Netflix is also set to lose another 2 million customers in the current second quarter, thus configuring its worst year in history.
Investors, analysts and Hollywood executives had expected the company to report a slow start to the year but were still confident Netflix would add 2.5 million customers.
For this reason, the company’s management pointed out that the ‘red numbers’ are due to password sharing and increasing competition. Netflix indicated that there are 100 million households that use its service without paying for it. Therefore, the company is experimenting with ways to record those viewers.
“Our relatively high penetration in households, when you include the large number of shared accounts in households, combined with competition, is creating obstacles to revenue growth,” he explained.
Netflix’s woes will have investors wondering if media companies that are latecomers to streaming will sign up enough customers to justify all the money they’re spending on new programming.