Netflix blames 126,000 lost U.S. subscribers on price hikes

For the first time since 2011, Netflix lost U.S. subscribers.

The streaming video service said on Wednesday it lost 126,000 subscribers in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2019. The loss in U.S. subscribers wasn’t helped by the underwhelming 2.7 million global subscribers the company added — about half short of the 5 million it was expecting.

The easiest thing to do is point fingers at the growing number of streaming services competing with Netflix. For example, Disney+, available this holiday season starting at $6.99 a month, has everyone already claiming they’ll dump Netflix.

However, the drop in U.S. subscribers and lackluster global growth was largely due to more boring reasons, according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. In his investor’s note, Hastings said price hikes that went into effect in January contributed to the weaker-than-expected quarter results. The “Basic” plan increased from $8 per month to $9, the “Standard” two-screen plan jumped from $11 to $13, and the “Premium” plan increased from $14 to $16.

“Our missed forecast was across all regions, but slightly more so in regions with price increases,” Hastings said. “We don’t believe competition was a factor since there wasn’t a material change in the competitive landscape during Q2…”

Though it had a poor second quarter, Hastings expects things to rebound in the second half of the year, fueled by the successful launch of original programming such as Season 3 of Stranger Things.

“Q3 has started with Stranger Things Season 3, and the first two weeks of Q3 are strong,” Hastings said. “In addition to the recently released Season 3 of Stranger Things, our second half content slate includes new seasons of La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), The Crown, and the final season of the iconic Orange is the New Black as well as big films like The Irishman from Martin Scorsese and action movie 6 Underground (directed by Michael Bay and starring Ryan Reynolds).”

All this recent and upcoming original content should help Netflix continue to grow. Hastings said he expects Netflix to attract 7 million new subscribers in the next quarter compared to the 6.1 million subscribers the service added during the same period in 2018. The majority of the subscriber growth, 6.2 million subscribers, is predicted to come from abroad. Netflix expects to add 800,000 in the U.S.

Even factoring in beloved shows like Friends and The Office leaving Netflix, Hastings is optimistic the streaming service still has long legs as it invests even more in exclusive original video.

“We’ve been moving our content from semi-exclusive catalog and 2nd-window unbranded content to branded exclusive 1st window original content for many years,” Hastings said. “Much of our domestic, and eventually global, Disney catalog, as well as Friends, The Office, and some other licensed content will wind down over the coming years, freeing up budget for more original content.”

At a certain point, though, everyone’s gotta take a good look at their monthly bill for streaming services because there are just too many of them. A few bucks here for this and for that might not seem like much at first, but it quickly adds up.

Netflix’s bottom line will take a beating if you decide to leave, but you might be better off if you do.