The streaming giant said it added 9.3 million subscribers in the first three months of the year.

Netflix says its profits have soared in the first three months of this year, partly thanks to a crackdown on password sharing.

The streaming giant said it added 9.3 million customers in the first quarter, bringing its total number of subscribers to almost 270 million.

The company also said its profits in the first quarter jumped to more than $2.3bn (£1.85bn).

But the firm will stop reporting key subscriber numbers from next year.

…

Some investors saw its unexpected decision to stop reporting subscriber numbers as a sign that Netflix’s wave of customer growth may be coming to an end.

Simon Gallagher, a former Netflix director and now principal of entertainment investment firm SPG Global, told the BBC’s Today programme that while the numbers indicated a “very, very strong performance” this might not last.

  • reddig33@lemmy.world
    128·
    7 months ago

    Be sure to read the article. Netflix has announced they won’t be disclosing subscriber numbers from here on out. Probably not a good sign.

    • comrade19@lemmy.world
      49·
      7 months ago

      I heard investors need stocks to forever go up and for that to happen companies need to keep doing things like this. They cant just leave things as they are or something

      • Mikina@programming.dev
        33·
        7 months ago

        Not only investors. Everyone needs stocks to forever go up. We’re kind of fucked, because once it becomes apparent that the infinite market growth isn’t possible and we reach a theoretical ceiling of stock market, the world and economy will probably be in serious shit.

        I’ve tried looking for some articles or papers about what would actually happen and couldn’t find any, but our society right now is kind of based on that premise, and once it stops it’s going to be a problem. Mostly for the ordinary people, though. And of course, caused entirely by the greedy investors struggling to figure out how to keep milking the cow. Fuck capitalism.

        • Lukewarm_Tea@lemm.ee
          11·
          7 months ago

          I am also an investor. If the socks don’t go up I get a rash, shortness of breath and this feeling of inescapable doom. So unless you want to be a murderer I suggest you help me keep the stonks going up.

      • Lukewarm_Tea@lemm.ee
        15·
        7 months ago

        One day the companies will figure out how to charge infinite money for no product or service. Then capitalism will be satisfied and the game will be won.

        • Gork@lemm.ee
          5·
          7 months ago

          I thought this might be the case for insurance companies once self driving cars displace manually driven cars entirely.

          Collect all the premiums, pay out very rarely since these systems have the potential to be a lot safer in general than human drivers. Possibly with the exception of Tesla since Musk’s decision to not have Lidar severely constrains their system’s ability to function properly.

  • JiveTurkey@lemmy.world
    64·
    7 months ago

    I canceled my Netflix because of this and I don’t even share my password. Also because they fucked up the witcher.

    • UckyBon@lemmy.worldEnglish
      29·
      7 months ago

      I cancelled all my streaming accounts because of this. I never shared the password other than with my SO. It was a wake up call to the whole subscriptions scam. It’s a shitty middleman.

      Subscriptions add up real quick: movies, music, games, apps, cloud, news, etc. Let alone having some other hobbies.

      I have friends who drop $200 per month on those things. Absolutely insane. That’s a month worth of avocado toast.

      • LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        7 months ago

        My ex has hundreds of dollars of subscription stuff each month: Disney, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Streaming, Max/HBO, OnlyFans, Tinder, Field, Bumble etc etc. It’s so stupid

    • Tiefling IRL
      5·
      7 months ago

      Same, I immediately canceled my account. They spent the next year trying to get me to resub. Fuck Netflix, yarg

    • msage@programming.dev
      3·
      7 months ago

      I didn’t really like the book (somebody handed me one, can’t remember which), haven’t played the games, so I went almost blind to the show.

      And I mean it honestly, it was fun. Batshit crazy, and the third season went even more nuts, but it was just fun, I really enjoyed myself.

      • evatronic@lemm.eeEnglish
        6·
        7 months ago

        Just about any adaptation from book to TV is going to piss off book readers because they “ruined” it.

        Myself, if I wanted to experience the exact same thing if read, I would read it again. Putting it on screen means something new.

      • no banana@lemmy.world
        10·
        7 months ago

        There was a time when Netflix had some really weird indie shit and I loved that. Last I used it they basically produced their own butchered versions of other material, like the Witcher. I unsubscribed after the first season.

    • nadram@lemmy.world
      15·
      7 months ago

      Unsubscribed just because they pulled this move. None of the 3 people i was sharing it with ended up subscribing.

  • SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip
    28·
    7 months ago

    Ladies and gentlemen,

    We have failed. We need to be better consumers, and do something about when businesses pull tricks like this. But we have failed to appropriately respond, and we will be paying a big price for this.

    Now, every single subscription business and their mother will be cracking down on password sharing. It’ll be seen as guaranteed profit at the expense of our wallets and freedoms, and quickly ingrained into society.

    • dutchkimble@lemy.lol
      14·
      7 months ago

      Do what though? We can either unsubscribe, or subscribe. This is not a social service by them, nor is a gun being put to our heads to use Netflix. I really don’t mean to defend them, I prefer the high seas myself, but I genuinely feel there’s nothing we can or should do except either agree or disagree with them about subscribing to their plans.

      • Jojo, Lady of the West
        7·
        7 months ago

        My response to being told Netflix would stop my password sharing was to cancel my sub. And now, months later, I’m using someone else’s password to keep watching their shows…

      • SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip
        2·
        7 months ago

        This is where the problem lies: We have pathetically little power over the situation. I try to do my best to avoid paying companies that abuse their paying customers and let others know about it.

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
          1·
          7 months ago

          This is where the problem lies: We have pathetically little power over the situation.

          Collectively, we do. We just never do collectively.

  • hperrin@lemmy.world
    25·
    7 months ago

    But what will they do next time they need to make line go up? I know! Increase prices again!

    • Tikiporch@lemmy.world
      3·
      7 months ago

      I’d pay slightly more than their current rate if they could get me much higher bitrate streaming. I can’t pay more for the same, though, and I fear that’s the tack they will take.

  • oxjox@lemmy.mlEnglish
    21·
    7 months ago

    LOL I was in arguments with a number of angry internet people who were vehemently screaming how this would be the death of Netflix. They seriously thought that all the people who were getting free passwords would simply not subscribe to Netflix. To which I responded, then they wouldn’t lose a single subscriber. And then I saw more than a few people actually say that subscribers who were sharing their passwords would stop subscribing to Netflix because they weren’t able to share their passwords. Just an example of how your personal feelings about something can skew your observance of a reality.

    Now, why people are choosing to subscribe to Netflix at all is something I genuinely don’t understand. I’ll pay for a month of it every 12-18 months and get bored searching for something to watch within a couple days.

    I’m interested to see how the younger TikTok generation transitions to commercial programming. I would think some portion of the demographic isn’t going to want to sit own for 30-90 minutes to watch wide-screen television. Just as we transition from over-the-air to cable to streaming, I wonder what will come next. “TikFlix”?

    • KingBoo@lemmy.world
      4·
      7 months ago

      “TikFlix”?

      We’re actually there. Go on YouTube and you’ll see entire movies condensed into tokable sized chunks. This is how Z watches movies now, and it will only get worse.

      Songs are becoming shorter and shorter, to hopefully create a tiktok trend.

      • LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        7 months ago

        Most modern movies are pointless fluff anyway. I don’t need to watch 20minutes of fighting and explosions, I really don’t. Or even more stereotypical, boring one liners, jokes, and banter. Not to mention the movies with the exact same emotional motivations - the superhero movies. Miss me with the war propaganda and reactionary bullshit. And that’s what most movies are about these days. Internet is killing Hollywood because Hollywood has always been fluff and not that good.

    • blargerer@kbin.social
      1·
      7 months ago

      I used to subscribe inconsistently when there was something I wanted to watch. Then I started sharing with my family so I kept the subscription up at a higher price constantly because I didn’t know when they were using it or not. I’ve since gone back to only subscribing at a lower price when I want to watch something. I honestly thought way more people would be in this situation.

    • WanderingVentra@lemm.ee
      2·
      7 months ago

      Ya I went to the seas instead. I’m glad to have not contributed to that rising profit, even if it only means a little.

    • GregorTacTac@lemm.ee
      7·
      7 months ago

      Even if someone shared their password with me I wouldn’t use it because I like to be in control of my media. That’s why I run a Jellyfin server.

  • penquin@lemm.ee
    6·
    7 months ago

    What’s next for the next quarter’s profits? I mean your shareholders are not just gonna stop there. It’s an infinite money pit, right?

    • anarchrist@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      6·
      7 months ago

      But the firm will stop reporting key subscriber numbers from next year.

      They’re going to pretend user attrition isn’t happening as new subs burn out on content and the old “family” accounts recalculate the value of their subscriptions and start dropping or juggling netflix.