One in four is thinking about leaving Netflix in the US due to a multitude of reasons, including the rising cost of a subscription to the streaming service.
That's according to a report (via Reviews.org) that surveyed over 1,000 people in the country with a quarter of them admitting that they are "planning to leave Netflix this year". If this does come to fruition, it could mean potentially more than 18 million Netflix subscribers in the US could unsubscribe, worth an estimated $272 million in lost revenue for the company.
While around 40% of people explained that they will exit Netflix due to the increased price, just under 22% stated that it was due to missing shows and/or movies on the platform and 19.5% said it was due to the general cost of living. The remaining number cited a preference for other streaming services, such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Hulu, Paramount Plus and Peacock.
A Netflix subscription is currently priced at $9.99 / £6.99 / AU$10.99 for a basic subscription, $9.99 / £10.99 / AU$22.99 for a standard plan, or $19.99 / £15.99 / AU$22.99 for a premium package.
It's been a rough 2022 for Netflix with close to 1.2 million subscribers leaving in the first half of the year, and according to this report, more might be on the way. To combat this, Netflix is looking to offer a cheaper ads-based plan that is set to release ahead of Disney Plus' own ads-based tier in November.
"Those who have followed Netflix know that I have been against the complexity of advertising, and a big fan of the simplicity of subscription," said Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings on the decision to introduce ads. "But as much as I am a fan of that, I am a bigger fan of consumer choice. And allowing consumers who would like to have a lower price – and are advertising-tolerant – get what they want, makes a lot of sense."
Netflix has also been looking into livestreaming, yet it seems the decision to scrap many beloved shows (i.e. missing content) ahead of their planned end may play a part too. So far over a dozen Netflix shows have been cancelled in 2022.
Another damming bit of news for the platform recently is that Netflix lost a major player in the streaming space to one of its biggest competitors. This again makes sense considering how many shows don't make it to a second season.
