Netflix losing new ground with longstanding subscribers - report
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Netflix's (NASDAQ:NFLX) issue with cancellations in the first quarter is well documented: The streamer not only missed more modest subscriber growth targets but actually saw the figure decline for the first time in a decade.
Now data suggest that Netflix is not only facing churn from short-term subs, but is increasingly losing ground with its longer-term members. The Information reports that the chunk of cancellations from those subscribed to the service for three years or longer has sharply increased.
That's based on Antenna data about the tenure of the subscribers doing the canceling. In Q1 of 2022, Netflix saw gross cancellations of 3.6 million subscribers - up sharply from 2.5 million cancellations in Q1 of 2021, and from 2.5 million cancellations in Q4.
Of those 3.6 million first-quarter cancellations, most (60%) had been subscribers for less than a year, as is typical. But a hefty 13% of them came from those subscribed for longer than three years, The Information notes.
That's up from 10% of those long-term cancellations a year prior, and up sharply from the figure in Q1 of 2020, when only 5% of cancellations came from such long-term members. (In Q1 2020, 69% of total cancellations came from those who had subscribed less than a year.)
Netflix stock (NFLX) is down 2.2% Wednesday; it's tumbled 47% since earnings on April 19.
The latest fallout from Netflix's poor first quarter arrived Tuesday, as the company began layoffs in some areas.