Streaming service Netflix once again gained far more subscribers than expected last quarter. Netflix has left the competition far behind, but the company still sees plenty of room for further growth. What does Netflix plan to do to attract even more viewers?
Netflix continues to grow despite several price increases. Last quarter, the streaming service gained more than 8 million new subscribers. That was much more than the 4.9 million that analysts had predicted. The cheaper Netflix subscription with commercials accounted for almost half of the new subscriptions. In total, Netflix now has 277.7 million subscribers worldwide.
Striking figures about viewing time
Compared to its competitors, Netflix is doing well. In a letter to shareholders, the company says that many competitors have invested heavily in their own series and films, which then attracted relatively low viewing figures on their streaming services. This while Netflix’s viewing figures are relatively good.
Netflix points to an American viewing survey. Of the total time people spend on streaming services, 8.4 percent goes to Netflix. Only the free service YouTube achieves a higher share (9.9 percent). Netflix’s competitors are far behind, with Amazon Prime Video in third place with 3.3 percent and Disney with 2 percent. Apple TV+ still hasn’t made it into the top 10, but Apple will soon change course.
More live broadcasts
“We want to capture an even bigger share of today’s TV viewing time. If we do that well — with better stories, easier content discovery, and greater fandom — and focus on new areas like live, games, and advertising, we believe we have room to grow even further,” Netflix wrote.
The streaming service has recently started experimenting with live broadcasts and is now also looking at the possibilities of broadcasting live sports. The company has also been releasing games for subscribers to play for some time.
Variety, quality and recommendations
Netflix emphasizes that the good viewing figures are due to the very large selection of good series and films. “It all starts with variety and quality, because if people don’t like something, or it’s not to their taste, they turn it off. Does Netflix really need that many programs and films? The answer is an emphatic ‘yes’. With 278 million households, we target an audience of over 600 million people. To please that many people, we need a lot of great stories that fit different tastes and moods. That’s why we continue to increase the investment in our programming, unlike many of our competitors.”
With so much content, personal recommendations to users are crucial. The company believes there is still room for improvement. One example is the new home page on the TV apps that Netflix has been testing since June. The new design should be ‘simpler and more intuitive’, making it easier to discover series and films.
New game about Squid Game
Netflix is also increasing its investment in games, and plans to launch a new game every month from now on. One of the new games coming later this year is a Squid Game-inspired game, set to release around the release of the show’s second season.
Due to the success of the cheaper subscription with commercial breaks, Netflix will continue to expand its advertising activities in the coming years. When the cheaper advertising subscription will be available in the Netherlands is still unknown.
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Source: www.bright.nl
