The company said it lost 200,000 subscribers in its first quarter, falling well short of its forecast of adding 2.5 million subscribers. Suspending service in Russia after the Ukraine invasion took a toll, resulting in the loss of 700,000 members.
“Those who have followed Netflix know that I’ve been against the complexity of advertising, and a big fan of the simplicity of subscription,” said. “But, as much as I’m a fan of that, I’m a bigger fan of consumer choice.” While the company remains bullish on the future of streaming, it blamed its slowing growth on a number of factors, such as the rate at which consumers adopt on-demand services, a growing number of competitors and a sluggish economy.
“They suffered from a combination of approaching saturation, inflation, higher pricing, the war in Ukraine and competition,” said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter. “I don’t think any of us expected that all to happen at once.” As growth slows in mature markets like the United States, Netflix is increasingly focused on other parts of the world and investing in local-language content.