Netflix continues its spiral, as during the second quarter of 2022 the streamer lost 1.3 million subscribers in the United States and Canada. The losses were revealed during today’s company earnings call. Netflix had 73.28 million paid memberships during the quarter, down from 74.58 million in the first quarter of 2022.
Although Netflix added subscribers in some other areas of the globe, it in total dropped 970,000 subscribers worldwide. That is in addition to the more than 200,000 customers that it lost in Q1 2022. However, the loss is less than the 2 million subscribers that it expected to lose.
Recent price hikes by the streamer have resulted in customers unsubscribing to the service. Netflix in January increased the price of all of its service tiers. The basic standard definition plan went from $8.99 to $9.99, the Standard HD plan went from $13.99 to $15.49, and the 4K plan went from $17.99 to $19.99.
Revenue was up nine percent year over year, which Netflix says is the direct result of an increase in average revenue per membership. Netflix is expecting to add one million subscribers in Q3 2022.
Netflix blames the subscriber losses on connected TV adoption, account sharing, and competition (although, it is possible some viewers have been turned off by the shows and movies offered by the service over the last few years). The company says it will focus on evolving monetization to improve its revenue growth.
Netflix has a lower-priced ad-supported service tier in the works and expects to launch the ad-supported tier in early 2023. The streamer is also working to monetize the 100 million+ households that are “currently enjoying, but not directly paying for, Netflix.”
Netflix is experimenting with a $3 fee to share passwords on a Netflix plan in Latin America.
