Netflix knocked after rocky start to the year: Streaming giant brings in fewer subscribers than expected
Netflix shares fell last night after the streaming giant brought in fewer subscribers than expected.
The company gained 1.8m paying customers in the first quarter of the year – taking the total to 233m.
But that was below the 2.3m additions anticipated on Wall Street and shares fell as much as 11 per cent before rebounding.
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The company is grappling with a slowdown in consumer spending as it battles to bring in new viewers with big-hitting releases such as The Night Agent and The Glory.
Profits for the first three months of the year dropped to £1billion from £1.2billion, whilst revenues dipped to £6.2billion from £6.5billion.
Both were below analyst expectations, which were a respective £1.3billion and £6.6billion for the quarter.
Netflix had a rocky start to 2022, announcing its first fall in paying subscribers for over a decade in the first half of the year.
This was driven by the end of lockdowns and the cost of living crisis putting increasing pressure on household budgets.
The combination of inflationary pressure and the wider tech sell-off spelt disaster for Netflix, forcing it to cut hundreds of jobs and hike prices across key markets.
Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush, said: ‘It’s a streaming arms race and Netflix needs to spend to defend its consumer turf.’
