Netflix loses 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022

“Netflix” lost 200,000 subscribers around the world in the first quarter of the year compared to the end of 2021, which is a precedent for more than ten years, and therefore the price of its shares fell by more than 24% in electronic exchanges after the close of Wall Street on Tuesday.

The giant American streaming platform, Netflix, explained that this decline is mainly related to the difficulty of obtaining new subscribers in all regions of the world, in addition to the suspension of the service in Russia.

“The Covid pandemic has given a blurry picture by amplifying our growth in 2020, leading us to believe that most of our slowing growth in 2021 was due to the advance of Covid,” the platform said in its earnings statement.

Netflix expected to gain an additional 2.5 million subscribers, and analysts were expecting an even larger number, but instead lost some of them, bringing total subscriptions down to 221.64 million.

"The suspension of our service in Russia and the continued decline in the number of Russian subscribers caused a net loss of 700,000 subscribers," the California-based group said.

If so, we would have had 500,000 more subscriptions” compared to the previous quarter.

Netflix achieved revenues of $7.9 billion in the January-March period, 10% more than the same period last year, mainly due to the increase in the number of subscribers on an annual basis (+6.7%) and the increase in the cost of its subscriptions. But its net profit amounted to 1.6 billion, compared to 1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2021.

"Netflix's loss of subscribers is very significant for a company that has been steadily gaining subscribers for a decade," said eMarketer analyst Ross Bennis.

"With lower subscriptions and weak growth prospects, the group will have to rely more on secondary services such as video games or derivative products in an effort to increase its revenue," he added.

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