Tag: NETFLIX

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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.

ALSO READ: More edtech firms shift focus

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Business

Netflix loses 2 lakh paid subscribers in three months

The main challenge for membership growth, said Netflix, is continued soft acquisition across all regions…reports Asian Lite News

Streaming giant 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, Netflix forecasts a global paid subscriber loss of 20 lakh for the second quarter (Q2) of 2022.

The decline has brought Netflix’s subscriber base to 221.6 million, down from 221.8 million in the previous quarter.

“The suspension of our service in Russia and winding-down of all Russian paid memberships resulted in a 7 lakh impact on paid net adds; excluding this impact, paid net additions totalled 5 lakh,” the company said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The company told its shareholders that it expected to add 2.5 million net subscribers during the first quarter, compared with 4 million in the same quarter a year ago.

The main challenge for membership growth, said Netflix, is continued soft acquisition across all regions.

Netflix informed that in addition to its 222 million paying households, it estimates that the streaming service is being shared with over 100 million additional households.

“Account sharing as a percentage of our paying membership hasn’t changed much over the years, but, coupled with the first factor, means it’s harder to grow membership in many markets – an issue that was obscured by our Covid growth,” the company noted.

Netflix said it is making good progress in APAC “where we are seeing nice growth in a variety of markets including Japan, India, Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan”.

Its revenue in the first quarter reached $7.78 billion. The net cash generated by operating activities in Q1 was $923 million.

ALSO READ-IMF cuts India’s growth forecast to 8.2% for FY23

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Arab News News

Netflix joins AFAC to support female filmmakers

Netflix joins AFAC to support female filmmakers

The Netflix Fund for Creative Equity in the Arab world, valued at USD 250,000, will provide financial support to women filmmakers in the Arab world…reports Asian Lite News

Netflix in partnership with the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture – AFAC, has announced five Arab women filmmakers and producers who will receive a one-time grant through Netflix’s Fund for Creative Equity to bring their fiction and non-fiction projects to life.

The Netflix Fund for Creative Equity is a global fund launched in early 2021 that aims to establish more opportunities for people from underrepresented communities to have their voices heard, and purposefully close skill gaps with training programs where they are needed. The Netflix Fund for Creative Equity in the Arab world, valued at USD 250,000, will provide financial support to women filmmakers in the Arab world.

Nuha El Tayeb, Director Content Acquisitions, Middle East, and Turkey – Netflix: “The Arab world has a long-standing history of women in entertainment, and we’ve had incredible successes and firsts from the region that we’re all very proud of. But in order to give more people a chance to see their lives reflected on screen, we need more women behind and in front of the camera. The Fund for Creative Equity helps the industry as a whole to have a much more dynamic, interesting, multidimensional representation of women and this is one step in the journey to enabling more women to tell their stories and have new audiences discover their work.”

Five women were selected to receive a grant for their individual projects. The five women filmmakers represent different parts of the Arab world including Lebanon, Tunisia, and Morocco. AFAC already has two grants aiming to support filmmakers in cinema and documentary making. Netflix’s Fund for Creative Equity grantees were selected from the list of women filmmakers shortlisted for each of these grants for the 2021 cycle.

“More and more Arab women filmmakers are creating moving images that have the power to shed light on the realities of the region. This second collaboration with Neftlix, this time to support women in the field of cinema, complements perfectly AFAC’s mission to promote diversity of voices and narratives”, stated Rima Mismar, AFAC’s Executive Director.

ALSO READ: Netflix to charge customers for sharing passwords

Asmae El Moudir is a Director and Producer from Morocco whose film, ‘The Mother of All Lies’ has been shortlisted for the non-fiction category. Diala Kachmar (From the other shore), Jana Wehbe (The Day Vladimir Died) and Tania Khoury (Manity) – all female producers from Lebanon are spearheading three exciting fiction projects, and Sarra Abidi – Director and Producer from Tunisia will bring her fiction project (My Name is Clara) to life on screen.

Over the years, Netflix has licensed exceptional work from female creators and is working with more regional storytellers to forefront their experiences. The investment in the Fund for Creative Equity is another way to amplify women’s voices and ultimately bring fresh and authentic content to audiences in the region.

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Lite Blogs

STORY OF NETFLIX

Netflix: From video store chain to global entity that redefined entertainment

As millions of people stream the latest season of ‘Money Heist’ or ‘Squid Game’ on Netflix, little do they know that the streaming giant was born out of a video renting store in the US nearly 25 years ago. Today, Netflix has reached roughly 222 million paid members globally and aims to attract 800-900 million households that use either broadband internet or pay TV around the world.

 In 1997, Reed Hastings (now Chairman and President) and Marc Randolph had an idea to rent DVDs by mail. They tested the concept by mailing themselves a DVD. The DVD arrived intact, and the idea for Netflix was born.

  In 1998, Netflix.com, the first DVD rental and sales site, was launched in Scotts Valley, California. It offered a library of films and television series through distribution deals as well as its own productions, known as Netflix Originals.

  Next year, the Netflix subscription service made its debut, offering members unlimited DVD rentals without due dates, late fees or monthly rental limits.

 In 2002, Netflix made its initial public offering (IPO), at a selling price of $1 a share under the Nasdaq ticker ‘NFLX’.

  Next year, the company was issued a patent by the US Patent & Trademark Office to cover its subscription rental services as membership surpassed 1 million. Finally, in 2007, Netflix introduced streaming, allowing members to instantly watch series and films. It later partnered with consumer electronics brands to allow streaming on Xbox 360, Blu-ray players and TV set-top boxes.

  In 2010, Netflix arrived in Canada and streaming was launched on mobile devices, along with the first dedicated kids experience tab.

  In 2011, the streaming service arrived in Latin America and the Caribbean and the first Netflix button appeared on remote controls. It logged 25 million members a year later and expanded into the UK, Ireland and the Nordic countries.

  Netflix also ventured into stand-up specials with ‘Bill Burr: You People are all the Same.’

  ‘House of Cards,’ ‘Hemlock Grove’, ‘Arrested Development’ and ‘Orange is the New Black’ ushered in the first slate of original series programming for Netflix in 2013.

  ‘House of Cards’ went on to win three Primetime Emmy awards — the first for an internet streaming service. The Profiles and My List features debuted on streaming.

Pic credits ANI

  In 2015, its first original feature film (‘Beasts of no Nation’), first non-English original series (‘Club de Cuervos’) and first Asian original (‘Terrace House’) made their debut.

  In the same year, the company launched audio descriptions for the visually impaired with ‘Daredevil’.

  In 2016, Netflix expanded to 130 new countries, bringing the service to members in more than 190 countries and in 21 languages around the world.

  Next year, Netflix won its first Academy Award for ‘The White Helmets’. The introduction of interactive storytelling and the ‘Skip Intro’ button gave members more choice to tailor their viewing experience.

  In 2018, Netflix was the most-nominated studio at the Emmys, winning 23 for series including ‘GLOW’, ‘Godless’ and ‘Queer Eye’. The streaming service rolled out PIN protection as part of several parental control enhancements.

  In 2019, Netflix won four Academy Awards, for ‘ROMA’, ‘Period’, ‘End of Sentence’, and its first original animated film ‘Klaus’. ‘Bandersnatch’ won the first major Emmy for an interactive title.

ALSO READ: Netflix to charge customers for sharing passwords

  In 2020, as Covid-19 struck the world, Netflix was the most-nominated studio at the Academy Awards and Emmys.

  The Hardship Fund launches aided the creative community workers impacted by Covid-19, while 2 per cent of its  cash holdings moved to financial institutions supporting Black communities.

  Last year, Netflix released its first-ever film and series diversity study, in conjunction with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, and announced plans to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2022.

  Netflix also launched mobile games last year. As of December 31, 2021, Netflix had 75.2 million users in the US and Canada, 74 million in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 39.9 million in Latin America and 32.7 million users in the Asia-Pacific.

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World News

Netflix to charge customers for sharing passwords

The firm will launch and test two new features in select markets, where members will have to pay an additional $2 to $3 for sharing their passwords with people outside their homes….reports Asian Lite News

 Popular video streaming platform Netflix is planning to pause password sharing outside a single household by charging users extra for doing so.

“While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members,” Chengyi Long, Netflix’s director of product innovation, said in a statement.

The main account owner will receive an email with a code, to enable the new sub-accounts. The user must use the code to verify the additional devices are a part of their household.

Pic credits ANI

The firm will launch and test two new features in select markets, where members will have to pay an additional $2 to $3 for sharing their passwords with people outside their homes. Netflix recently bumped up its subscription prices for the UK and Ireland.

The video streaming giant has around 14 million subscribers in the UK and 600,000 in Ireland, according to Ampere Analysis. The most popular package is the standard subscription, which offers streaming in HD quality to up to two devices which used to cost $7.82 but has now gone up to $9.13 in the UK.

This change applies to new subscribers, while current subscribers will be notified 30 days before the new prices affect their account. In January, Netflix also increased the price of its monthly subscription plans in the US and Canada.

In the US, subscribers to Netflix’s basic plan, which allows for one stream on one screen at a time and does not have HD streaming, is now $9.99 a month, up from $8.99, after the price hike in January.

ALSO READ: Netflix pulls out of Russia

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-Top News Europe

Netflix pulls out of Russia

Pic credits ANI

Now, the company is taking an additional step in shutting down its service entirely….reports Asian Lite News

Streaming giant Netflix has suspended its services in Russia to protest the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this week, the streaming service had announced that it would pause all future projects and acquisitions from Russia, joining a growing list of companies that have cut ties with the country, reports variety.com.

Netflix had four Russian originals in the works, including a crime thriller series directed by Dasha Zhuk, which was shooting and has since been put on hold. Netflix also recently refused to carry 20 Russian free-to-air propaganda channels that it was required to host under the Russian law.

Now, the company is taking an additional step in shutting down its service entirely.

“Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,” a spokesperson for Netflix said.

The economic blowback that Russia has faced in the wake of its decision to go to war with Ukraine has been intense. Not only is the country grappling with extensive sanctions, but many corporations and organisations have pulled out of Russia.

Companies like Microsoft, Apple and Dell have announced that they have suspended sales in the country, while Ikea has closed stores and Nike has said it will no longer fulfill online orders. On the entertainment front, all of the major studios have announced they will stop releasing their films in Russia.

Netflix is somewhat of a newcomer to Russia. It launched its service in 2016 and has a relatively small presence, with roughly one million subscribers.

The streamer boasts 222 million subscribers globally. It operates the service as a joint venture with Russia’s National Media Group.

Netflix also recently announced that it would make its 2015 documentary “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” available to watch for free. The non-fiction film centers on the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine, which were sparked by former president Viktor Yanukovych’s decision not to sign an agreement with the European Union and instead choose to strengthen ties to Russia.

Those protests ultimately resulted in Yanukovych’s ouster. It also exacerbated tensions with Russia, with Vladimir Putin using the overthrow as a pretext for invading and annexing the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused a humanitarian and refugee crisis, along with increasing fears that it could trigger a nuclear conflict.

ALSO READ: Russia says has ‘evidence’ of US bioweapon labs in Ukraine

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Films Lite Blogs

‘Lucifer’ tops most-streamed series of 2021

Interestingly, reflecting the diversity of the U.S. audience, roughly 15 per cent of the American viewers of ‘Squid Game’ watched the Korean-language original of the series…reports Asian Lite News

‘Lucifer’, a drama that debuted on the Fox broadcast network before becoming a Netflix show in 2018, topped Nielsen’s list of the most-streamed original series of 2021 in the United States, reports ‘Deadline’.

The 93 episodes of the series netted more than 18.3 billion minutes of streaming during the year, according to the measurement firm’s year-end report. That put it well in front of the 16.4 billion notched up by ‘Squid Game’, but the Korean phenomenon had only nine episodes on Netflix in 2021.

Interestingly, reflecting the diversity of the U.S. audience, roughly 15 per cent of the American viewers of ‘Squid Game’ watched the Korean-language original of the series.

In saving the show after it was cancelled by Fox, according to ‘Deadline’, Netflix established a precedent that it has occasionally followed with other acquired properties that become popular on its platform. (A recent example was the former NBC series ‘Manifest’, which racked up almost 20 billion viewing minutes last year with just 42 episodes.)

Three non-Netflix shows made the originals chart: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ on Hulu, ‘Ted Lasso’ on Apple TV+ and ‘Wandavision’ on Disney+.

On the movie chart, ‘Luca’ recorded a decisive win, gathering about 10.6 billion minutes of viewing. The winsome, well-reviewed Pixar feature, says ‘Deadline’, did not have a theatrical run last summer and was instead released directly on Disney+.

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Bollywood Films Lite Blogs

‘The Silent Sea’ is Netflix’s most-watched non-English series

Netflix said ‘The Silent Sea’ made the Top 10 in the category in 77 countries over the one-week period and topped the list in six nations, including South Korea and Thailand…reports Asian Lite News

South Korean sci-fi horror series ‘The Silent Sea’ was the most-viewed non-English TV show over the week from December 27 to January 2 on Netflix, the global video streaming service said.

The drama, according to Yonhap News Agency, topped Netflix’s official weekly chart for non-English TV programmes with 47.8 million hours of viewing for the week, vastly outnumbering ‘The Queen of Flow: Season 2’ with 29.5 million hours and ‘Money Heist: Part 5’ with 26.3 million hours.

‘The Silent Sea’ is ranked No. 10, just behind the Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘Sooryavanshi’, on Netflix in India. The Raveena Tandon-led series ‘Aranyak’ and the Malayalam superhero movie ‘Minnal Murali’ are in the top two positions.

‘Squid Game’ and ‘Money Heist’ are at No. 6 and 7 in India.

For ‘The Silent Sea’, the week in review marked a remarkable increase in viewership, as it had placed third with 22.2 million hours in the previous week. The eight-part series premiered on December 24.

It is the third Korean-language series to have topped the Netflix chart for non-English TV shows, following the global sensation ‘Squid Game’ released in September and Yeon Sang-ho’s fantasy horror ‘Hellbound’ in November.

Netflix said ‘The Silent Sea’ made the Top 10 in the category in 77 countries over the one-week period and topped the list in six nations, including South Korea and Thailand.

Starring Bae Doo-na and Gong Yoo, the latest Netflix original is set on the moon, where a special team is tasked with finding out the secrets of an abandoned research facility, Balhae Base.

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