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Netflix ends password sharing in India

The company further mentioned that the paid net additions were 5.9 million in the second quarter (Q2) of this year…reports Asian Lite News

Streaming giant Netflix on Thursday announced that it has ended password sharing in India and will now alert subscribers who are sharing their accounts outside their homes.

“Starting today, we will send an email to members who are sharing Netflix outside their household in India,” the company said in a statement.

“A Netflix account is for use by one household. Everyone living in that household can use Netflix wherever they are — at home, on the go, on holiday — and take advantage of new features like Transfer Profile and Manage Access and Devices,” it added.

In May, the streaming giant had launched paid sharing in over 100 countries, representing more than 80 per cent of the company’s revenue base.

Revenue in each region is now higher than pre-launch, with sign-ups already exceeding cancellations, according to Netflix.

The company further mentioned that the paid net additions were 5.9 million in the second quarter (Q2) of this year.

Also, now the paid sharing is rolling out to almost all of the remaining countries.

In the Q2 2023 earnings report, the company said: “Q2‘23 revenue of $8.2 billion and operating profit of $1.8 billion were generally in-line with our forecast — and we expect revenue growth to accelerate in the second half of ‘23 as we start to see the full benefits of paid sharing plus continued steady growth in our ad-supported plan.

“We’re still targeting a full year 2023 operating margin of 18 per cent to 20 per cent.”

The report also mentioned that the platform is “seeing healthy conversion of borrower households into full paying Netflix memberships as well as the uptake of our extra member feature”.

Moreover, the streaming giant said that it “phased” out the Basic ads-free plan for new and rejoining members in Canada (existing members on the Basic ads-free plan are unaffected) in Q2. Now, it is doing the same in the US and the UK.

“We believe our entry prices in these countries — $6.99 in the US, 4.99 pounds in the UK and $5.99 in Canada — provide great value to consumers given the breadth and quality of our catalogue,” the company explained.

“Most of our revenue growth this year is from growth in volume through new paid memberships, and that’s largely driven by our paid sharing rollout,” said Spencer Adam Neumann, Chief Financial Officer at Netflix.

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Business India News

Netflix back on track in India

Learning from the success in India, Netflix reduced prices in an additional 116 countries in Q1…reports Asian Lite News

A significant price reduction in subscription tiers in India has helped Netflix grow engagement in the country by nearly 30 per cent (year on year) in the first quarter of 2023, the streaming giant has announced.

Over time, Netflix has adapted our prices to meet local needs and to further deepen its penetration, it lowered prices in India by 20-60 per cent in December 2021.

“These reductions — combined with an improved slate — helped grow engagement in India by nearly 30 per cent year on year while F/X neutral revenue growth in 2022 accelerated to 24 per cent (versus 19 per cent in 2021),” the company said in its March quarter earnings late on Tuesday.

Learning from the success in India, Netflix reduced prices in an additional 116 countries in Q1.

“While they represented less than 5 per cent of our FY22 revenue, we believe that increasing adoption in these markets will help to maximise our revenue longer term,” said Netflix.

The company registered $8.16 billion in revenue during Q1 2023, slightly lower than the market expectations.

However, the company reported higher-than-expected earnings of $2.88 per share in Q1.

APAC revenue grew 2 per cent year over year and average paid memberships increased 17 per cent.

“Given current healthy performance and trajectory of our per-member advertising economics, particularly in the US, we’re upgrading our ads experience with more streams and improved video quality to attract a broader range of consumers,” said the streaming platform.

Netflix said it is on track to meet the full year 2023 financial objectives.

“For Q2 2023, we forecast revenue of $8.2 billion, up 3 per cent year,” said Netflix.

Meanwhile, streaming giant is finally set to crack down on password sharing in the US this summer.

Netflix originally planned to roll out “paid sharing” in the US during the first quarter this year. The company will now introduce the feature on or before June 30.

“We are planning on a broad rollout, including in the US, in Q2,” the company said in its first-quarter 2023 earnings.

“Paid sharing is another important initiative as widespread account sharing (over 100 million households) undermines our ability to invest in and improve Netflix for our paying members, as well as build our business,” the company added.

Netflix first launched paid sharing in Canada, New Zealand, Spain, and Portugal.

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Bollywood Celebrity India News

Bollywood bigwigs pay homage to Yash Chopra in Netflix series

SRK, Karan Johar, Katrina Kaif, Amitabh Bachchan speak about why Yash Chopra is a legend in Netflix’s docu-series The Romantics! Preview feature by columnist Riccha Grrover for Asian Lite International.

Iconic director Yash Chopra’s impact on Hindi cinema is an everlasting one and Netflix pays tribute to the legend and Yash Raj Films’ cultural impact on India for the past 50 years in a new docu-series The Romantics which is releasing globally on Feb 14th!

The docu-series will see the Hindi film industry come together to celebrate Yash Chopra. The mega-stars of the Indian entertainment industry like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif, etc will pour their hearts out to speak about how the legend’s work shaped their cinematic vision!

Yash Chopra is celebrated widely for his envelope-pushing romantic films like Silsila, Lamhe, Kabhi Kabhie, Veer-Zaara, Dil To Pagal Hai, Chandni, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, etc. SRK, who has been directed by Yash Chopra four times,talks about how mesmerized he was watching those films. He says, “As a professional, if I would have to spend 100 days on a set, I would rather do it on a Yash Chopra set than anybody else’s.”

Karan Johar, who knew Yash Chopra closely and is also widely known for his cult romantic films, says, “I just became obsessed by watching his films and I felt that who is this man, who is constantly responsible for mesmerizing me as a child.”

Meanwhile, superstar Katrina Kaif loved how Yash Chopra portrayed his heroines, who were all independent-minded, forward-thinking, self-reliant, and strong. Yash Chopra’s heroines contributed to how women were projected on screen by the Indian film industry. She says, “The way that Yashji portrayed his heroines was so dignified, graceful, and layered.”

Amitabh Bachchan, who has collaborated with the icon for landmark films like Deewar, Silsila, Kabhi Kabhie, Trishul, Kaala Patthar and Veer Zaara, calls Yash Chopra a true master of cinema in The Romantics, given how brilliant he was with diverse genres!

Amitabh says, “We shot for Deewar for several months within ten or fifteen days. We started Kabhi Kabhie suddenly to shift to an environment which is full of flowers and mountains and snow but the ease with which he just adapted to that was just quite remarkable!”

The Romantics has been directed by Oscar & Emmy-nominated filmmaker Smriti Mundhra, who returns to Netflix after the phenomenal success of Indian Matchmaking and the Never Have I Ever franchise.

Netflix, one of the world’s leading entertainment services, in this four-part docu-series, will also feature 35 leading personalities from the film industry, who have closely worked with YRF through its 50-year glorious existence.

Interestingly, the reclusive head of the iconic Yash Raj Films, Aditya Chopra, has also recorded his first on-camera interview for ‘The Romantics’! Hearing him share insights about YRF and the Hindi film industry in this docu-series would be a huge highlight for the film fraternity, cinephiles & Hindi cinema audience at large.

YRF is currently at an all-time high as their latest release Pathaan, the fourth film of YRF’s Spy Universe is breaking all records at the global box office. Pathaan is now the number one Hindi film worldwide and has become the biggest all-time blockbuster in the history of Hindi cinema. YRF is home to some of the biggest blockbusters that Indian cinema has ever witnessed like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, War, Sultan, Ek Tha Tiger, Tiger Zinda Hai, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Mohabbatein.

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Films India News

‘Class’ trailer unravels an elite school drama

The trailer gives the impression that it is ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’, ‘Student of the Year’ and ‘Josh’ put together…reports Asian Lite News

The trailer of the young adult streaming series ‘Class’ presents a tale of mishaps, mayhem, ideological clash and sentiments running high at Hampton International school. Adapted from the global hit Spanish series, ‘Elite’, the Indian counterpart promises an engaging, edgy, coming-of-age thriller – a whodunnit piece of audio-visual content.

The trailer gives the impression that it is ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’, ‘Student of the Year’ and ‘Josh’ put together.

Talking about the series, director Ashim Ahluwalia said: “It was quite a task to adapt a show that has had enormous love globally, particularly because I wanted to rework its cinematic language and set it in New Delhi. I was keen to make something real and intense, something that charts the heightened emotions of teenage life. I also wanted to explore class, something we engage with daily but rarely see authentically depicted on screen.”

The show features a dynamic, young ensemble cast that includes Gurfateh Pirzada, Anjali Sivaraman, Ayesha Kanga, Chayan Chopra, Chintan Rachchh, Cwaayal Singh, Madhyama Segal, Moses Koul, Naina Bhan, Piyush Khati and Zeyn Shaw.

“Set in a world where the elite have all that they could wish for, besides a clear conscience, and those less fortunate dangerously navigate their way through, Class is a wild and volatile affair between the two. We’ve had a crew that’s worked tirelessly and an amazing fresh young cast – almost all new discoveries that are absolutely incredible on screen. I think it’s safe to say that we have a series here that’s unlike any other seen before in India,” the director added.

‘Class’ will drop on Netflix in February.

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Films

Netflix announces its 2023 Korean slate

This year, Netflix is expanding its film offering with six Korean movies, kicking off with sci-fi thriller ‘JUNG-E’ on January 20, followed by ‘Kill Boksoon…reports Asian Lite News

Streaming giant Netflix on Wednesday has announced its new K-content slate with titles like ‘Black Knight’, ‘Song of the Bandits’, ‘Sweet Home’, ‘D.P.’ and more.

Looking ahead at 2023, Netflix is debuting a diverse array of Korean TV series, films and unscripted shows.

After a global success with ‘Squid Game’, Netflix will launch a total of 34 Korean titles on its platform, including returning with the series ‘Sweet Home’, ‘D.P.’, and ‘The Glory’, a press release stated.

Survival has become a recurring theme across some of the top series, whether it’s battling monsters during the dark days of 1945 in ‘Gyeongseong Creature’, struggling to breathe in the dystopian future of sci-fi series Black Knight, or fighting to protect Joseon during Japanese colonial rule in action drama ‘Song of the Bandits’.

Other new series this year run the gamut of romance (A Time Called You, Behind Your Touch (WT), Crash Course in Romance, Destined With You, Doona!, King the Land, Love to Hate You, See You In My 19th Life), social commentary and intrigue (Bloodhounds, Celebrity, Mask Girl), drama (Daily Dose of Sunshine, Queenmaker, The Good Bad Mother), and apocalyptic (Goodbye Earth).

Don Kang, VP of Content (Korea), said: “The global popularity of K-content has continued apace over 2022, with Netflix bringing a wider variety of stories and genres to fans around the world. Over the last year, Korean series and films have regularly featured in our Global Top 10 list in more than 90 countries, and three of Netflix’s most-watched shows ever are from Korea.”

“This year, we’re pushing the envelope even further with the stories we tell and how we tell them. With this lineup of Korean titles, Netflix will continue to be the ultimate destination for compelling, diverse and must-watch Korean storytelling.”

This year, Netflix is expanding its film offering with six Korean movies, kicking off with sci-fi thriller ‘JUNG-E’ on January 20, followed by ‘Kill Boksoon’, which depicts a professional killer with conflicting maternal instincts, and ‘Believer 2’, a sequel to a crime action thriller revolving around drug gangs.

Other films explore the topics of revenge (Ballerina), teacher-student rivalry (The Match), and hacking (Unlocked).

Meanwhile those who love living vicariously will be spoilt for choice with a dazzling lineup of reality shows, spanning endurance (Physical:100, Siren: Survive the Island), zombie survival (Zombieverse) coming of age (Nineteen to Twenty), and mind games (The Devil’s Plan).

There are also two new documentaries coming out. Yellow Door: Looking for Director Bong’s Unreleased Short Film (working title) traces the quest for Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-Ho’s debut film while true-crime documentary In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal explores the self-proclaimed ‘messiahs’ in modern Korean history.

“We are very excited over the variety of the titles that we’re sharing with our members,” said Kang. “There’s truly a series, a film or an unscripted show for everyone, and we look forward to our Korean shows connecting to fans both overseas and at home.”

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Lite Blogs

Netflix India unveils busy calendar

Based on ex-spy Amar Bhushan’s espionage thriller ‘Escape to Nowhere’, Vishal Bhardwaj’s much-awaited film ‘Khufiya’ has a formidable star cast that includes Tabu, Ali Fazal, Wamiqa Gabbi and Ashish Vidyarthi.

From ‘The Family Man’ hitmakers Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. unspooling the small-town dark comedy ‘Guns & Gulabs’ set in the 1990s, starring Dulquer Salmaan and Rajkummar Rao, to a soup-slurping Manoj Bajpayee in ‘Soup’, to Nayanthara’s fairytale wedding and the uncle-nephew duo Venkatesh and Rana Daggubati uniting on screen as father and son in ‘Rana Naidu’, Netflix unveiled quite a formidable lineup for its Indian subscribers at a global fan event on Saturday.

Presented by comedian Zakir Khan and popular actress Prajakta Koli, Tudum India showcased the series and films lined up for release in the coming weeks and months. These included:

Monica, O My Darling


With a title that pays tribute to the unforgettable R.D. Burman-Asha Bhosale number picturised on a unctuous Helen (‘Piya Tu Ab to Aja’ from ‘Caravan’, 1971), the Vasant Bala-directed neo-noir movie with Huma Qureshi and Rajkummar Rao is a whodunit that wades through lust, blackmail, betrayal, blood, and “some robots crushing human skulls”.

Rana Naidu

Uncle-nephew duo Venkatesh and Rana Daggubati appear as father and son in the series ‘Rana Naidu’, which is set in Mumbai. The story is about a fixer who does the dirty work for the city’s most powerful people, but the drama unfolds when his father is unexpectedly released from prison, setting off a chain of events that could change everything. The series also features Surveen Chawla, Sushant Singh, Abhishek Banerjee, Suchitra Pillai, Gaurav Chopra and Ashish Vidyarthi.

Khufiya

Based on ex-spy Amar Bhushan’s espionage thriller ‘Escape to Nowhere’, Vishal Bhardwaj’s much-awaited film ‘Khufiya’ has a formidable star cast that includes Tabu, Ali Fazal, Wamiqa Gabbi and Ashish Vidyarthi.

Class


The show follows a sudden change in dynamics at the upscale Hampton International, when three new students from starkly different backgrounds enroll for a new term and shake up the status quo. The high-school drama, which may seem like an Indian version of ‘Euphoria’, stars Gurfateh Pirzada, Anjali Sivaraman, Ayesha Kanga, Cyaawal Singh, Chintan Rach, Chayan Chopra, Madhyama Segal, Moses Koul, Naina Bhan, Piyush Khati and Zeyn Shaw.

Scoop

Based on ‘Behind The Bars In Byculla: My Days In Prison’, a book by journalist Jigna Vora, who was charged with abetting the daylight murder of a crime journalist that shook Mumbai, ‘Scoop’ traces the journey of Jagruti Pathak, a fictional character based on the writer. An ambitious crime journalist, Jagruti’s world comes crashing down when she’s charged with the murder of a fellow journalist, and the truth is quietly buried as she waits out a trial. Directed by Hansal Mehta, ‘Scoop’ will see Karishma Tanna, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, Harman Baweja, Deven Bhojani, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Tejasvini Kolhapure, Shikha Talsania, Tanmay Dhanania and Inayat Sood in key roles.

Qala.

Qala

Haunting, powerful and also rich with excellent music, Qala, set in the 1930s and late 1940s, is the story of the young eponymous playback singer. It’s about her tragic past and how it catches up with her, causing her to unravel at the peak of her hard-won success. Directed by Anvitaa Dutt, ‘Qala’ stars Triptii Dimri, Swastika Mukherjee, Babil Khan and Amit Sial.

Kathal

Of course, not all true crime involves murder. A light-hearted film based on a true incident, it starts with a local politician’s prized jackfruits (kathal) going missing. The bizarre case falls into the lap of a young and earnest police officer, played by Sanya Malhotra. ‘Kathal’ marks the directorial debut of Yashowardhan Mishra.

Soup

Billed as “a one-of-a-kind thriller” directed by Abhishek Chaubey, ‘Soup’ follows chef Swathi Shetty as she cooks up a master plan to replace her husband with her lover. But when a bumbling local inspector and a squad of villainous meddlers get involved, her plans could go cold before she knows it. ‘Soup’ stars Manoj Bajpayee, Konkona Sensharma, and South Indian actors Nasser, Sayaji Shinde and Lal.

CAT

After ‘Jogi’, here’s a web series that takes viewers back to the days of militancy in Punjab and its aftermath. ‘CAT’ is about a former civilian informant, played by Randeep Hooda, who is forced to become one again to save the life of his brother, which forces him to come to terms with his dark past. Bringing together a powerful trio, ‘CAT’ has been directed by Balwinder Singh Janjua, Rupinder Chahal and Jimmy Singh.

Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga

Starring Yami Gautam, Sunny Kaushal and Sharad Kelkar, this adrenaline-loaded film is about a flight attendant and her business partner on a mission to steal diamonds and free themselves from the clutches of a loan shark. At 40,000 feet in the air, the heist goes horribly wrong and turns into a hostage situation. Chaos ensues.

Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale

Nayanthara.

There’s nothing fictional about this one. This special is about one of the most intensely private but wildly popular superstars, Nayanthara, who recently got married in a fairytale wedding to filmmaker Vignesh Shivan. It gives viewers an all-access peek into their lives, marriage and beyond. Ace filmmaker Gautam Vasudevan dons the role of director for the special.

Guns & Gulaabs

Directed by Raj & DK, it’s a genre-bending dark comedy set in a small town in the 1090s. It promises to deliver a heady mix of “love, crime and a ton of mid-’90s nostalgia”. ‘Guns & Gulaabs’ stars Dulquer Salman, Rajkummar Rao, Adarsh Gourav, TJ Bhanu and Gulshan Devaiah.

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Bollywood Lite Blogs

Five Indian films featured on Netflix’s global top 10 lists

Other titles showcased during Films Day included: ‘Chakda Express’, inspired by the life of cricketer Jhulan Goswami, starring Anushka Sharma…reports Asian Lite News

Netflix India’s Vice-President (Content) Monika Shergill has said five Indian titles have featured on Netflix’s global top 10 lists so far this year. Viewership of Indian films on the streaming service has gone up by 50 per cent from last year, reports ‘Variety’.

Hits for the service include Alia Bhatt’s ‘Gangubai Kathiyawadi’, pan-India blockbuster ‘RRR’ and ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’, starring Kartik Aaryan and Tabu.

Shergill also pointed out in an interview with ‘Variety’, coinciding with the streamer’s Films Day on Monday, that Indian movies featured in the Netflix non-English charts for 31 of the last 34 weeks.

Another hit Alia film has been ‘Darlings’, whose story revolving around domestic abuse, which debuted as the biggest non-English language original film opener for the service worldwide. The movie, co-produced by Alia with Red Chillies Entertainment, also features powerful performances by Shefali Shah and Vijay Verma.

Other titles showcased during Films Day included: ‘Chakda Express’, inspired by the life of cricketer Jhulan Goswami, starring Anushka Sharma; heist thriller ‘Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga’, starring Yami Gautam and Sunny Kaushal; ‘Jogi’, which is set against the backdrop of the 1984 Delhi anti-Sikh riots, starring Diljit Dosanjh and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar; the satire ‘Kathal’, starring Sanya Malhotra; Vishal Bhardwaj’s spy thriller ‘Khufiya’ featuring Tabu, Ali Fazal, and Azmeri Haque Badhon; and Anurag Kashyap acolyte Vasan Bala’s whodunnit ‘Monica O My Darling’, with Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi and Radhika Apte.

Also a part of the showcase were Shashanka Ghosh’s romantic comedy ‘Plan A Plan B’, starring Riteish Deshmukh and Tamannaah Bhatia; the intense drama ‘Qala’, directed by Anvita Dutt, which will see Irrfan Khan’s son Balih making his film debut; Zoya Akhtar’s comic book adaptation ‘The Archies’; and the Indian version of Keigo Higashino’s Detective Galileo novel, ‘The Devotion of Suspect X’, headlined by Kareena Kapoor Khan and directed by Sujoy Ghosh (“Kahaani”).

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Bollywood Films Lite Blogs

Netflix announces much anticipated releases for new month

Its world premiere will take place at the Venice Film Festival, which opens Wednesday, August 31…reports Asian Lite News

Noah Baumbach’s black comedy ‘White Noise’, multiple award-winning Mexican director Alejandro Inarritu’s ‘Bardo (Or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths)’ and Lindsay Lohan’s romantic comedy ‘Falling for Christmas’ will debut on Netflix this Fall, reports ‘Variety’.

On Tuesday, the streamer announced the release dates for those films — and plenty more — including ‘Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical’, with Emma Thompson playing the terrifying Miss Trunchbull, ‘The Swimmers’ and ‘Mr. Harrigan’s Phone’, an adaptation of the Stephen King novel by John Lee Hancock.

Some of the titles, such as ‘Bardo’ and ‘White Noise’, will have limited theatrical runs before debuting on Netflix, while others, such as ‘Falling for Christmas’, will land directly on the streaming service, according to ‘Variety’.

‘Bardo’, described as a “nostalgic comedy”, stars Daniel Giménez Cacho playing a renowned Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker who returns to his native country at an existential crossroads.

Its world premiere will take place at the Venice Film Festival, which opens Wednesday, August 31.

‘White Noise’, adapted from Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel, reports ‘Variety’, features Adam Driver as an ostentatious professor of Hitler studies, whose marriage (Greta Gerwig plays his wife) is upended after a horrifying accident creates an airborne toxic event of frightening and unknowable proportions. The film will be screened at the Venice and New York film festivals before it lands on Netflix.

Another festival-bound film, ‘The Swimmers’, a refugee drama that will be the opening feature of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), is coming to Netflix on November 23.

Directed by Sally El Hosaini, this true-life story follows two sisters who fled a war-torn Syria to attend the 2016 Rio Olympics.

ALSO READ-Massive layoff at Netflix

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Business

Massive layoff at Netflix

The platform also indicated more rounds of layoffs would be coming this year following that first group, as the platform tried to adjust for its heavily weakened stock price….reports Asian Lite news

After laying off several employees recently, popular video streaming platform Netflix has once again shown the exit door to an additional 300 employees in the second round of layoffs.

According to Variety, the cuts are across multiple business functions in the company, with the bulk of the jobs lost in the US.

These new layoffs hit just a few weeks after the streaming giant — which has a global workforce of roughly 11,000 staffers — made an initial round of reductions of similar size in May.

At that time, Netflix laid off 150 employees, and dozens of contractors and part-time workers.

Several top-notch creative professionals from its original series vertical, such as Sebastian Gibbs and Negin Salmasi, were asked to go.

The platform also indicated more rounds of layoffs would be coming this year following that first group, as the platform tried to adjust for its heavily weakened stock price.

A report, in May, said that Netflix saw its stock tumbling by 20 per cent after it reported a loss of 2 lakh paid subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, its first subscriber loss in over a decade.

Moreover, it now forecasts a global paid subscriber loss of 20 lakh for the April-June quarter (Q2)

ALSO READ: Netflix sheds more subscribers

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Business Media

Netflix sheds more subscribers

Amid the cancellations, new accounts make up for a smaller share, another worry for Netflix that is struggling to retain users for longer periods of time….reports Asian Lite News

Netflix is fast losing long-term subscribers — who have been with the streaming service for more than three years – further adding to its woes as the company faces stalled growth amid revenue slowdown.

According to a survey report by The Information, new data show that people who have been subscribers to Netflix for more than three years accounted for 13 per cent of cancellations in the first quarter this year.

The Information received data from US-based analytics firm Antenna.

The data showed that overall cancellations hit 3.6 million people in the January-March period – a massive jump from 2.5 million cancellations in the past five quarters.

Amid the cancellations, new accounts make up for a smaller share, another worry for Netflix that is struggling to retain users for longer periods of time.

Nearly 60 per cent of cancellations were done by new subscribers in the last quarter, according to the report that came out on Wednesday.

Amid slow revenue growth, Netflix has laid off nearly 150 employees, primarily in the US.

“As we explained on earnings, our slowing revenue growth means we are also having to slow our cost growth as a company. So sadly, we are letting around 150 employees go today, mostly US-based,” a Netflix spokesperson was quoted as saying in reports on Tuesday.

“These changes are primarily driven by business needs rather than individual performance, which makes them especially tough as none of us want to say goodbye to such great colleagues,” the company added.

Netflix saw its stock tumbling by 20 per cent after it reported a loss of 2 lakh paid subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, its first subscriber loss in over a decade.

Moreover, it now forecasts a global paid subscriber loss of 20 lakh for the April-June quarter (Q2).

Netflix last month laid off several experienced journalists and writers working for its entertainment site Tudum which it launched only in December last year.

To brighten up its future prospects, Netflix is reportedly planning to live stream its upcoming slate of unscripted shows and comedy specials.

Netflix has also fast-forwarded its plans to bring ads right into its TV shows and movies, along with curbing password sharing.

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