Posted on 07/22/2019 8:25:16 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
On Wednesday, Netflix announced its subscriber base in the United States declined for the first time since 2011.
The streaming giant had forecast a gain of 300,000 during the second quarter (April through June), but instead it lost about 130,000 homes here. Thanks to international growth, Netflix still added 2.7 million customers overall, pushing its global base to a record 151 million. But even that wasn’t entirely good news: Netflix had told investors it expected to gain about 5 million new customers in the quarter, making this its biggest missed forecast since 2016. So what’s behind this gloomy quarter for the company?
Netflix blames the decline on its most recent price increase. “Our missed forecast was across all regions but slightly more so in regions with price increases,” Netflix explained to its investors, but they also blame lackluster programming. “We think Q2’s content slate drove less growth in paid net adds than we anticipated.”
Perhaps there’s another factor that Netflix is missing, or evening ignoring when it comes to their disappointing numbers. For more than a year now, Netflix has made some controversial moves that undeniably alienated a large portion of its U.S. subscribers: conservatives.
Back in March of 2018, Netflix named former Susan Rice, the former National Security Adviser and Ambassador to the United Nations under Barack Obama, to their Board of Directors. Susan Rice was a key figure in the Benghazi attack cover-up, pushing a false narrative to the media in order to give Obama political cover before the 2012 election. Rice was also behind the controversial unmasking of Trump administration officials on intelligence reports involving the Russian collusion hoax. Rice’s placement on the Board of Directors was also criticized because her national security background seemed irrelevant to being on the BOD of an entertainment company.
Nevertheless, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings defended the decision saying, “For decades, she has tackled difficult, complex global issues with intelligence, integrity and insight and we look forward to benefiting from her experience and wisdom.” Yeah, right.
Then there was the announcement in May 2018 that Netflix would be partnering with Barack and Michelle Obama to produce content. "President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have entered into a multi-year agreement to potentially produce films and series for Netflix, potentially including scripted series, unscripted series, docuseries, documentaries, and features," they announced via Twitter.
The announcement was met with immediate backlash from conservatives, just like the Susan Rice announcement did.
More recently, Netflix threatened to boycott Georgia and cease filming in the state over its controversial abortion law. “We have many women working on productions in Georgia, whose rights, along with millions of others, will be severely restricted by this law,” said Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, in a statement to Variety in May. “It’s why we will work with the ACLU and others to fight it in court. Given the legislation has not yet been implemented, we’ll continue to film there, while also supporting partners and artists who choose not to. Should it ever come into effect, we’d rethink our entire investment in Georgia.” In response to Netflix’s threat to boycott Georgia, pro-lifers, in turn, called for a boycott of Netflix.
Does Netflix really expect us to believe that rate hikes are to blame for their loss of subscribers when previous rate hikes did not have a similar impact? Maybe they should consider the possibility that the repeated alienating of conservatives subscribers and potential subscribers was also a contributing factor.
We've seen Hollywood take huge hits because of actors and programming becoming increasingly political and agenda-driven. The anti-Trump Murphy Brown reboot was canceled after just one season, yet Tim Allen's Last Man Standing, which was canceled by ABC (possibly due to conservative politics on the show), was brought back on Fox and continues to have big ratings. I think it's time Netflix, and Hollywood in general, acknowledge the fact that conservatives crave entertainment too, and they don't want to be lectured with left-wing propaganda when they watch a movie or a series. They want high-quality entertainment that speaks to them instead of talking down to them.
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Matt Margolis is the author of the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. His new book, Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama's Legacy, will be published on July 30, 2019. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
Exactly. Netflix had a perfect storm of stupid. First, they lost a huge chunk of their catalog when they decided to cut back on supplied content and go with original programming. Second, suppliers started their own streaming services, removing still more of the catalog while creating competition. Then, with dwindling supplies and hot competition, they decided to raise their rates.
Pretty much any other reasoning is a red herring.
“I dropped them when they hired/contracted 0bama.”
The curtain has fallen on the Obama show. My opinion is that there will be no Obama shows.
Occam’s Razor.
The content they’re producing is pure crapola.
I don’t think Amazon will do that.
You are lying to yourself. Bezos already has books that aren’t being published or run in the Amazon marketplace. They are not even hiding it.
https://barnesreview.org/amazons-banned-book-full-list/
I dropped them a year before that. IIRC it was when rumors that they were going to hire him to produce a series. I really don’t watch TV anymore which makes the 4k 55 inch curved Samsung TV I have worthless.
It is the exact reason I cancelled my subscription to them. When I found out that they had hired Susan Rice, and associated themselves with the Obama’s, that was it for me. And i liked some of the content, but I value my country a little higher than a few TV programs.
I’m inclined to agree with you
I think it’s more the quality of their programming than anything else.
We’re about to drop Netflix, I spent an hour looking through for something to watch and couldn’t find anything interesting.
For the same price as my Netflix subscription I get Amazon prime with video and prime delivery. While Amazon is owned and run by another leftist turd, at least I’m getting more for my money there.
As a side note, if you do have Netflix, I recommend watching the TV series Kim’s Convenience. It’s about a Korean family who owns a convenience store in Canada. Quite funny.
A lot of conservatives aren't interested in watching leftist-oriented programming which gratuitously bashes conservatives.
I've stopped watching several shows (not just on netflix) because the scripts veered too left.
We dumped a free account a couple years ago due to them having nothing of interest and a bunch of LGBT porn garbage.
T-Mobile gives you a free basic subscription... So I have. Wouldn’t pay.
Well DUH!!!!
Funny how that works, isn't it?
Oh, everybody is streaming so we're going do away with DVD's. Oh, and besides that, WE'RE going to decide what to offer you to see.
How convenient.
You'll get my DVD's and CD's when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.
Whatever it is, it is bad news. The company has been hemorrhaging cash which was OK as its subscriber base was growing and now it has stopped. With the WB and Disney streaming coming on line I doubt Netflix can do much more growing.
Social Justice Warrior programming is not unique to Netflix. The SJWs killed my favorite show, Supergirl, for example, and killed in infancy Designated Survivor. I simply just don’t watch those shows.
There is some documentary on there about the 5 black youths that raped that woman in New York. Guess which side the documentary takes. Why do liberals and Democrats love to take the side of criminals?
Funny how the left embraced those rapists, but say you MUST believe all accusers now.
Obama had to have been involved in that.
I don’t like their product.
Because they’re cowards they run scared of being called a racist no matter how outrageous
That was one factor for me. Another one was the lack of worthwhile movies. The final straw was their millennium-based schedule for posting new movies.
They lost me when they hired the bammy’s and rice.
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