- Netflix is cancelling their own shows earlier than expected, leaving fans furious as they no longer want to ‘invest their time in a series’ over fears it will be abruptly discontinued, according to recent media reports
- A number or popular TV dramas like ‘The OA’, ‘Marco Polo’, and ‘The Punisher’ have been ditched by the streaming service after only two seasons, while ‘The Society’ didn’t make it past S2
- Worse still, contrary to norm, over half of Netflix’s original reality TV shows and dramas released in 2018 have not been commissioned for a second series
- The developments comes as the streaming giant confirmed early this month to have lost 200,000 subscribers in just three months
- Industry observers believe a second price hike in a period of a year also played a major role, and so has the management’s decision to pull out of Russia over the war in Ukraine, resulting in further 700 000 subscriber loss
- Netflix estimates that it’ll lose a further two million paying customers before June 2022, news which led to its market value plummeting by $50 billion
- The rise of rival streamers including Disney+, AppleTV+, HBO Max, Amazon Video and longtime rivals Hulu are also said to have impacted Netflix’s marginal growth – as US downloads alone from all of the above mentioned streamers surpassed the giant streamer in April for the first time, according to Sensor Tower
- As per this article by Watch.Today, Elon Musk could be right after all for attributing Netflix’s downward spiral to the ‘woke mind virus’, as it promoted shows about pedophilia (‘Cuties’) and men getting “pregnant”
- To mitigate the mass exodus, the streaming firm is cancelling multiple in-house animations, including an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Twits, as well as the eagerly-awaited animated series based on Jeff Smith’s beloved comic book series ‘Bone‘, and Netflix movie, ‘Bright 2’, a sequel to the Will led fantasy flick
- Netflix, which despite its troubles has retained its position as number one streaming service in South Africa, will be showing ads during shows even though subscribers are forking large amounts of money to not have to watch them
- The streamer is also letting many of is staff go starting this week, notably director of Creative Leadership and Development for Original Animation, ‘Phil Rynda’
What people say; reasons behind Netflix woes
While the jury is out to see how Netflix gets to navigate this challenging face – as more viewers continue to cancel their subscription in favor of less costly alternatives – below is a snapshot of views and frustrations expressed by viewers on Twitter.
Spiraling cost of living in South Africa and other countries abroad such as the UK, is to blame
As alluded first by Elon Musk, the so called ‘woke mind virus’ is said to be making Netflix unwatchable, a point that is as confusing as it’s arguable
The recent global price hikes ‘were a stretch‘, according to viewers
Crackdown on password sharing also blamed for Netflix demise, something some disagree with
Nail in the coffin: Netflix officially introducing commercials
Else, the stories about Netflix demise, as some has it, have been greatly exaggerated for ‘clickbaity’
