It’s a busy time for streaming services at the moment, with Disney Plus and Apple TV+ arriving on the scene this month. This competition creates a headache for Netflix, whose long-term dominance as a streaming platform has been tested in the last year by the loss of license deals and rival original programming. In fact, according to a new survey, Netflix are losing North American subscribers due to price hikes and unsatisfactory content, which may indicate deeper issues for the streamer.
In the past year, Netflix have experienced a value dip, whilst also having to react to rumors of ads being placed on their service. Of the 1000 people in the survey who’ve cancelled their Netflix subscription though, 63% had been using it for a year or more, suggesting fatigue with recent price increases, with many now paying $13 a month for content. In addition, 58% of those interviewed are not sure if they’ll re-subscribe in future.
When asked why they unsubscribed, 49% cited rising prices, while 42% were turned off by the choice of content, and 40% by the competition provided by other services. The latter problem for Netflix has only been worsened by the immediate success of Disney Plus, despite its teething issues, as well as the major investments by Amazon in original content, including a new Lord of the Rings series that will stretch already impressive streaming budgets to new levels.
So, should Netflix be worried about this feedback? The answer is probably no, at least if you consider the survey’s of only a fraction of the company’s 60 million subscribers in the United States. In addition, Netflix will continue to bank on the appeal of new and ongoing series like The Witcher, The Crown and Stranger Things to generate buzz, renewed investment in originals and continued growth around the world. Of course, perhaps the more pressing question is whether people will sign up to all the new streaming services that’ll be available by 2020, which on top of other cable and entertainment deals will represent a sizeable outlay every month.