For the first time in its history, Netflix is showing signs of vulnerability. The streaming giant has lost 200,000 subscribers in just three months, while shareholders of the U.S. firm have been warned to expect another two million subscribers to leave in the three months to July. What’s gone wrong? As Netflix unveils a new series about a pregnant man – ‘He’s Expecting’ – is it a case of ‘Get Woke, Go Broke?’ MailOnline has more.
The rapid rise of rival Disney+, which has seen billions of dollars of investment in recent years, has seen competition in the streaming market increase dramatically.
And other services like Amazon Prime Video, which has captured a share of the live football market in the U.K., and AppleTV+, which has seen success through football comedy Ted Lasso, have also seen people turn away from Netflix.
Meanwhile, the streaming service has also been accused of liberal excess, with outspoken Tesla billionaire Elon Musk yesterday claiming the ‘woke mind virus’ was making Netflix ‘unwatchable’.
But perhaps its biggest problems is that a streaming service that once attracted viewers with widely-praised exclusives such as Stranger Things, House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black now finds itself in somewhat of a content crisis.
The streaming service, which is now competing with $15 million-an-episode Disney+ blockbuster series The Mandalorian, appears to be pinning its hopes on its own big-money exclusives.
But several, including Red Notice – its most expensive project ever – and the newly released Anatomy of a Scandal, come under fire from critics – even if they have been well watched.
And Netflix is also facing another expensive outlay in the form of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, having shelled out for a $100 million deal with the couple in September 2020.
As of yet, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are yet to produce any published content for the streaming giant. But the company will be pinning their hopes that their upcoming series documenting the recent Invictus Games will prove value for money.
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