Netflix Needs To Kill Binging To Stop Its Inevitable Decline

screenrant.com:

Netflix needs to move away from binging if it wants to stop its inevitable decline. For the first time in ten years, Netflix has reported a loss in overall subscriber numbers. Although the streaming service is eager to blame password sharing for the drop, its current approach to releasing and promoting content is the more likely cause.

Since establishing itself as a streaming service in 2007, Netflix has been one of the top sources for online streaming content. As other such platforms have risen overtime, thus limiting available options to license from other companies, Netflix wisely shifted away from a focus on offering other titles and toward creating and promoting its own original content. Shows such as Squid Game and Bridgerton, along with popular movies like Red Notice and The Adam Project, ensured that Netflix remained competitive despite growing support for other platforms like Disney+. Yet despite such success, its Q1 earnings for 2022 reported negative subscriber numbers, and Netflix doesn't anticipate that changing anytime soon.

Related: Disney+ vs Netflix: Which Streaming Service Is Better

The streaming service has been blaming these falling numbers on password sharing, where a subscriber shares their account with someone outside their household. In response, Netflix has been experimenting with monetizing this practice, by allowing subscribers to share their account for a price, and has also considered offering a cheaper ad-based option, similar to Hulu's subscription tiers. Yet both of these ideas fail to take into account another potential reason why Netflix has been steadily losing subscribers.

Netflix's Q1 earnings for 2022 dropped from 221.84 million to 221.64 million, losing about 200,000 subscribers.