The pandemic initially made Netflix boom. Now comes the hard landing of the streaming provider: Recently, far fewer new users have been enthusiastic about its series and films.
From Angela Göpfert, tagesschau.de In the Netflix series “Bridgerton”, the protagonist Daphne impressed her Queen Charlotte so much that she gave her that important gracious nod of approval. As much as Netflix seemed to be swimming on a wave of success with “Bridgerton” – users and investors have recently shown far less support for Netflix.
Worst quarter in company history expected
This is impressively reflected in the figures for the first quarter that Netflix presented on Tuesday evening after the US market closed: According to this, the number of subscribers rose by four million to almost 208 million at the beginning of the year – two million less than expected. According to the calculations of the streaming service, the current second quarter is likely to develop into the worst quarter in the company’s history: Netflix expects only one million new users worldwide for the months of April to June – more than ever. Wall Street had expected 4.4 million new subscribers so far.
Disney + on the rise
For comparison: In the first quarter of 2020, Netflix was able to score with 15.8 million new users, in the second quarter it was 10.1 million. That was practically at the height of the corona boom, when worldwide lockdowns forced citizens into their own four walls and many mutated into “couch potatoes” for lack of alternatives. But the attractiveness of the series marathon on Netflix has noticeably decreased in the wake of the corona pandemic. This is due on the one hand to pandemic-related production problems and on the other hand to growing competition, especially in the form of Disney +. The Subscription service from entertainment giant Walt Disney has gained more than 100 million subscribers since its launch – and thus already has half as many users as Netflix.
There are again alternatives to the couch
In addition: In some places in the important Netflix home country USA, more leisure activities, even going to the cinema and thus alternatives to being a “couch potato”, are possible again. Against this background, the market for streaming offers appears to be increasingly saturated. Netflix subscriber numbers are a reflection of all of this: starting from the peak in the number of new users in the first quarter of 2020 (15.8 million), things went noticeably downhill: in the second quarter it was 10.1 million, in the third 2.2 million. In the fourth quarter, Netflix made a small interim high of 8.5 million, but without being able to surpass the top value from the first quarter.
Disappointment in the stock market
The new figures for the first quarter and the gloomy forecast for the second quarter should now prove to all those critics who believe that growth has passed its zenith. The figures for sales and profit in the first quarter – 7.2 and 1.7 billion dollars respectively – with which Netflix was able to exceed Wall Street’s expectations, are unlikely to change anything. In any case, investors reacted with disappointment to the numbers: In after-hours US trading, the share fell ten percent to $ 491.50. The stock exchange had already anticipated the disappointing business development in parts: Since July 2020, not much has happened in the Netflix share. For the current year it shows only a meager increase of 1.6 percent, while the market-wide S&P 500 was able to increase ten percent in the same period.
Hope for the Oscar boom
One factor of hope for the streaming giant from Silicon Valley is now the Oscars at the weekend. Netflix is represented there with “Mank”; David Fincher’s homage to classic Hollywood has garnered ten nominations.
The actors Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman in the Netflix movie “Mank”. In addition to “Mank”, other promising films are currently available to stream on Netflix, including “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” with Chadwick Boseman on his last appearance and “The Trial of the Chicago 7”, which tells the true story of a group of demonstrators who had to face a scandalous court case in the USA in 1969 after a war protest that got out of hand. Paramount had sold the court thriller, which was originally scheduled to hit cinemas in autumn 2020, to Netflix because of the pandemic, giving the streaming company six more Oscar hopes. In total, Netflix productions received 35 Oscar nominations this year – more than ever before.
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