London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Oct 04, 2025

Netflix shares plunge as subscribers fall for first time in a decade

Netflix shares plunge as subscribers fall for first time in a decade

The news comes as more than 1.5 million Brits cancelled a subscription in the first quarter of 2022 to deal with the cost of living crisis.

Streaming titan Netflix lost subscribers in the first three months of this year after years of explosive growth, sending the company's shares plummeting.

After losing 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter, Netflix indicated in its financial results that it could shed a further two million members in the second quarter of this year.

The drop represents a huge miss for Netflix, which originally estimated it would add 2.5 million subscribers in the first quarter.

The company lost 700,000 customers when it suspended its service in Russia last month, following the country's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Netflix last reported losing customers in October 2011. The Silicon Valley giant's stock price plunged 23% in after-market trading.

It placed some of the blame for the drop in subscribers on family members sharing the same account, something that the company has recently started to crack down on.

Netflix also pointed to the brewing conflict between giants such as Amazon, Disney, and Apple - dubbed the "streaming wars" - as another reason for a hit to its subscriber numbers.


"The large number of households sharing accounts - combined with competition, is creating revenue growth headwinds. The big COVID boost to streaming obscured the picture until recently," Netflix said in a statement.

First-quarter revenue for the company increased 10% to $7.87bn, missing Wall Street's forecasts of $7.93bn.

There have been growing concerns for some time that after more than a decade of meteoric growth, Netflix would eventually start to see a drop off in subscribers as its competitors strengthened their offering.

Last year, streaming services such as Netflix spent $50bn on new content in an effort to win or retain subscribers, according to researcher Ampere Analysis.

But the news is also likely to spook tech companies outside of the streaming world.

Analysts have warned that any indication of a slowdown in the rate at which consumers are subscribing to services could spell trouble for the wider industry - and hit companies like Spotify and HelloFresh as the cost of living crisis bites and households scale back on expenses.

A new report released on Tuesday found that the number of people subscribing to at least one video streaming service in the UK had fallen, with more than 1.5 million people cancelling memberships.

Market research firm Kantar said that more than half a million cancellations were due to the cost of living crisis, as households deprioritise streaming services as they try to make ends meet.

A total of 1.51 million cancellations happened in the first quarter of 2022.

Roughly 58% of Brits now have at least one paid streaming service, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Disney+.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and the government enforced lockdowns, there was a surge in subscriptions to platforms, with more people stuck at home.

However, the report has found that the proportion of consumers planning to cancel subscriptions due to tightening budgets has risen to its highest level ever, from 29% to 38%, in the last three months of 2021.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×