• VideoNuze Podcast #475: Is Netflix’s Q2 ’19 Subscriber Slowdown a Short-Term Blip or Start of a Long-Term Trend?

    I’m pleased to present the 475th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

    Was Netflix’s Q2 ’19 subscriber slowdown a short-term blip or the start of a long-term trend? This is the question Colin and I dig into on this week’s podcast.

    This week Netflix reported its first-ever domestic streaming subscriber loss, dropping 130K paid subscribers to end the quarter with 60.1 million paid subscribers. The loss compared with a forecasted gain of 300K and a gain of 870K a year ago in Q2 ’18. And internationally, Netflix gained 2.83 million paid subscribers to end the quarter with 91.5 million subscribers, compared with a forecasted gain of 4.7 million and a gain of 4.6 million a year ago in Q2 ’18. So all in, Netflix’s global subscriber gain dropped roughly in half, from 5.45 million in Q2 ’18 to 2.7 million in Q2 ’19.

    Netflix blamed a weak Q2 content slate and to a lesser extent price increases in the U.S. and expects Q3 to return to typical growth. But Colin and I note new SVOD dynamics ahead that could scramble things such as the loss of key content like “Friends” and “The Office,” strong entrants like Disney+ and HBO Max. It’s hard to tell how it all shakes out just yet.

    Listen in to learn more!

     
    Click here to listen to the podcast (24 minutes, 4 seconds)



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