Netflix expects declining growth in the number of subscribers

Netflix has gained significantly more paid subscribers in the second quarter of 2020 than in the same period than last year, but growth will slow for the third quarter, the company expects. The reason lies in the corona crisis.

Netflix added 10.1 million paying subscribers in the past quarter, compared to 2.7 million a year ago over the same period. In the first quarter of 2020, this involved 15.8 million new paying customers. In the graph that Netflix shows in the explanation of its quarterly figures, it can be seen that during the quarter the growth leveled off and even started a decline. The latter is partly due to the automatic cancellation of subscriptions that were not used.

But Netflix also attributes the slowdown in growth to the corona crisis and, according to the company, this will continue into the current quarter. “Growth is slowing as consumers recover from the initial shock of covid and social constraints.” The company predicts it will receive 2.5 million new paying subscribers in the third quarter, versus 6.8 million a year ago. Then the arrival of new seasons of Stranger Things and La Casa de Papel contributed to the positive numbers.

The impact of the corona crisis on the production of own films and series is limited, according to Netflix. For example, production in European countries such as Germany, Italy and France has already started again, although the situation in the US makes the restart of productions there uncertain. In any case, Netflix expects to publish more of its own films and series in 2021 than in 2020.