A Different Kind of 'Cancel Culture' Reaches Netflix as More Long-Term Subscribers Abandon Ship

Netflix distorted logo
This illustration picture shows the US Online Streaming giant Netflix logo displayed on a tablet in Paris on February 18, 2019. Photo : LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP via Getty Images

Netflix is getting cancelled by its long-term subscribers.

A study showed that the popular subscription streaming service and production company was recently found to be losing its subscribers of more than three years, The Information reveals.

Netflix has recently made decisions that the people didn't take to kindly, such as the increase in subscription prices and its plan to include ad-supported tiers in the near future.

Where Did This Study on Netflix Come From?

According to The Information's report, people that have been subscribers of Netflix for more than three years, known in the report as long-term subscribers, have a significantly greater share of cancellations in the first quarter of 2022 than they did two years earlier.

The Information acquired their data from Antenna, an analytics firm that gathers data from 5 million Americans who share their streaming subscriptions anonymously, per The Verge.

Based on what The Information's study showed, long-term subscribers account for 13% of the cancellations Netflix saw in the first quarter of 2022, which was in the ballpark of 3.6 million cancellations. Meanwhile, 60% percent of cancelations during the previous quarter were from newly subscribed people who only had their Netflix subscription for less than one year.

This number of cancellations Netflix incurred during the first quarter of 2022 is a significant increase from the 2.5 million subscribers it lost in the past five quarters.

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In contrast, only 6% of Netflix's long-term subscribers canceled their subscriptions in the second quarter of 2021, while newly subscribed people made up 70% of the cancelations in the same period.

Antenna's findings suggest that Netflix is currently struggling to retain subscribers for long periods. This loss could be due to Netflix's selection of shows and movies, with some of its shows being available on other streaming services like Hulu and Peacock.

The loss could also be explained by the recent series and show cancelations Netflix did, as the company may have felt that the number of people watching their exclusive shows, such as Archive 81, did not justify the money that went to producing it, per Deadline.

Additionally, the recent price hikes that Netflix decided on doing scared away long-term subscribers, who may have found that the new prices were not worth the shows Netflix is offering. In contrast, Hulu, and its ad-supported plans, were much cheaper, costing people only $6.99 per month.

Streaming Services Profiting From Netflix's Losses

According to 9to5Mac's report, other streaming services, such as Paramount Plus, Peacock, and Disney Plus, were the most popular options among new subscribers during the first four months of 2022 due to their more affordable prices compared to Netflix.

Apple TV plus is also found by streaming service subscribers to be another more affordable option than Netflix despite its small albeit high-quality catalog of offerings.

Brendan Brady, Antenna's media and entertainment lead, said that consumers vote with their wallets every month when it comes to the streaming services they want to subscribe to, with the other streaming services being "just more viable candidates" than Netflix.

Other companies, like NBC Universal and Disney, have pulled their shows off Netflix to make them available and exclusive to their streaming services, while Netflix has to rely more on its hit or miss originals, Brady added.

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