Netflix Loses 800k Subscribers

[Callate]

Again, floating a third of the U.S.'s internet usage and posting eight or more DVDs both ways for $8/month was never going to be a stable long-term business model. I understand people being irked, but they're irked because they were promised the impossible, and for a time, delivered it. It's still a better deal for my purposes than cable television.

So you think Netflix has been losing money all this time?

They haven't opened their books to me, so I couldn't say for certain. It's not impossible. I don't think they expected the Internet portion of their business to become quite as successful (at least, in terms of usage) as quickly as it has.

But it's pretty basic math. Even at business rates, if most customers send out and receive eight movies a month, that doesn't leave a lot of that $8/month fee left for licensing and bandwidth. (And employees, mechanical upkeep, advertising...)

 

[samsonguy920]

Considering they just got three studios and feature companies on board with their service, I would say their value just went up. We still get to enjoy what Starz offers until February and things could change by then to keep them on. $8 a month just to stream a random movie and revisit good old TV Series is money in the bank as far as I am concerned.
I don't know where those 800k are going, except maybe to the library and Redbox(which does have a variety of movies, but good luck getting any popular titles).

"For those on the wrong side of the cord cutting debate the last several years - the cable/satellite/telco operators, Netflix's subscriber slowdown and escalating content costs are a source of relief," said a financial analyst from Morgan Stanley.

Relief for who? Not all the 800k are going back to get ass-raped by cable. How is it people who can pull crap out of their butt and say stuff about it make more money than I do, where I actually provide a solid product that won't cause people to lose their homes over? This is such a screwed up world.

 

[samsonguy920]

Wait, so they kill Blockbuster and every other video store, and then they fail? How does that even work!?

They haven't failed. Netflix is still quite strong. This day and age, though, it is expected any company is going to hit a slump. The studios getting more greedy and demanding more licensing fees isn't helping, though.

I've been saying since they started making mistakes, their CEO needs to be fired with prejudice and I don't care if he is majority shareholder.

Much as I am not that affected by the changes, I have to agree with this. He needs to be removed before he comes up with something really stupid that will kill the company.

Dropped my netflix subscription for a Hulu subscription. Helps me save space on my DVR and watch shit on the go.

Oh and being a Dish Network subscriber, I get a 1 DVD rental plan from blockbuster for free sooooooo... Yeah, sad to say Netflix has lost its usefulness.

They need to do something to compete with Hulu and/or my satellite provider, because right now Hulu is doing just about what I needed netflix instant watching for... but better.

So I have to ask, are you on Hulu Plus? Because then I want to ask, how is paying for content where you still get commercials any better?
It would be the same as AMC on cable decided to go premium, only keeping their commercial breaks.
Then there is the part where Hulu only keeps a feature on for like a month, if that long. Not much time to keep up with the Joneses when you got other things to do around the house.

 

[SanguineSymphony]

I was more upset about all the movies they lost from the Criterion Collection on streaming than Starz or a small increase in cost...

 

[Epona]

Again, floating a third of the U.S.'s internet usage and posting eight or more DVDs both ways for $8/month was never going to be a stable long-term business model. I understand people being irked, but they're irked because they were promised the impossible, and for a time, delivered it. It's still a better deal for my purposes than cable television.

So you think Netflix has been losing money all this time?

They haven't opened their books to me, so I couldn't say for certain. It's not impossible. I don't think they expected the Internet portion of their business to become quite as successful (at least, in terms of usage) as quickly as it has.

But it's pretty basic math. Even at business rates, if most customers send out and receive eight movies a month, that doesn't leave a lot of that $8/month fee left for licensing and bandwidth. (And employees, mechanical upkeep, advertising...)

Most customers weren't getting 8 movies a month for $8. I think their most popular plan was the 3 at a time plan for $19.99 and I can tell you that the more you stream, the fewer DVD's you get because you don't send them back as quickly. So for $19.99 a month, we were getting maybe 9 movies a month, that's 3 shipments. A person on a 1 at a time plan who is also streaming might only get 3 movies a month.

 

[ike42]

Much as I am not that affected by the changes, I have to agree with this. He needs to be removed before he comes up with something really stupid that will kill the company.

Dropped my netflix subscription for a Hulu subscription. Helps me save space on my DVR and watch shit on the go.

I think that we're a little too late for this. Their share price dropped from over $300 to around $50 I think was the latest number. This is a clear indication that this dumbshit has ruined his own company.

 

[Callate]

Most customers weren't getting 8 movies a month for $8. I think their most popular plan was the 3 at a time plan for $19.99 and I can tell you that the more you stream, the fewer DVD's you get because you don't send them back as quickly. So for $19.99 a month, we were getting maybe 9 movies a month, that's 3 shipments. A person on a 1 at a time plan who is also streaming might only get 3 movies a month.

That wasn't my experience. Given that Netflix infamously was accused of "blacklisting" customers who returned DVDs quickly (that is to say, they had to put an internal policy in place to deal with the issue), it would seem to suggest a significant number of customers were returning DVDs every three to four days, which is all my eight-a-month figure would entail. That's not terribly different from the rental periods that used to be typical for brick-and-mortar video stores.

My suspicion is that while the addition of streaming may have slowed down the return rate, it didn't do so by as much as they were expecting. DVD piracy may also have played a role; the means to quickly copy commercial DVDs has been widely available for some time (not condoning such activities by any means, simply saying it may have played a part.)

 

[SlugLady28]

Since all the other movie stores are now bankrupt thanks to these guys, i have no choice but to bow to the prices.

But that is no reason why they have so few movies available for CANADIANS compared to US. Come on!

 

[Strazdas]

your not going to expand? why not? you would be a sole monopolist in here. i mean we cant even buy the dvds if we wanted, let alone stream. and if we were to say ship dvds from UK we would have to buy 1 dvd every 2 months to pay same fine as netflix montly fee. so please do come here, we will jump your subscriptions back up!

 

[Ashley Blalock]

I dropped from DVD and streaming to just streaming because the company I had been so happy with before seemed like it had lost it's mind.

I kept the streaming though because right now I'm a bit hard pressed to find a better service for that rate. It's cheaper than any of the premium movie channels on cable and there is always some older movie, TV show, or anime that I want to watch which I can't say about any premium channels.

I don't have that love for the service I once had, but I'm just not upset enough to totally give up on Netflix so maybe one day they can earn back my love.

 

[CaptainKoala]

Well the fastest way to find out if something is stupid is to just go ahead and do it.

 

[jawakiller]

They told me to pay 17 bucks a month.
I told them to go fuck themselves.
Woot! Part of the one million and proud.

 

[duchaked]

when it first started I thought people were just way too whiny
well...okay well I still think that but of course it was still a terrible move by Netflix D: real bad

 

[kingmob]

Bit weird, the numbers clearly say they are making money on this deal. Less than 4% of subscribes lost after a 60% price increase, I'll take those numbers anyday!. I would've expected disaster after those weird moves, a sensible company increases their prices slowly after they've got their users hooked