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posted by
martyb
on Wednesday July 18 2018, @08:38AM
from the still-growing-but-not-[as]-fast-[enough] dept.
from the still-growing-but-not-[as]-fast-[enough] dept.
Netflix shares plunged by more than 14% in after-hours trade on Monday, after the firm reported disappointing subscriber growth.
Netflix said it added 5.2 million subscribers in the three months to the end of June, the same number it did during the period last year.
The streaming service had forecast growth of 6.2 million.
The decline in share price follows a successful run for the stock, which had roughly doubled so far this year.
Is the number of Netflix subscribers reaching a plateau based on its current library of titles, or are competitors eating into its growth?
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Netflix Shares Plunge as Subscriber Growth Rate Stalls
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Go to a movie tonight. Darkness becomes you.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 18 2018, @10:36AM (9 children)
As long as population keeps growing, so can business...
Me, personally, I think population passed its max comfortable level about 40 years ago, but as long as we keep adding consumers, business can grow to serve them.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by theluggage on Wednesday July 18 2018, @11:10AM (4 children)
As long as wealthy population with access to your product keeps growing, so can business...
Oh, plus, the population can't sustain infinite growth either - if it keeps growing, bad things will happen (like, higher proportions of the population living in poverty and not being able to afford to stream The Crown). Don't get complacent just because we're not eating people yet.
Oh, plus, you have to make more and more money to feed the parasites (like, you know, the shorters who make money for nothing when there's an insignificant blip in the share price which is still up 70% on a year ago and which will probably shoot up again when Stranger Things 3 comes out).
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 18 2018, @02:15PM
We're not far off. Watch Chasing Coral (available on Netflix :-) if you want to be really depressed about the present and likely future of the environment.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 18 2018, @05:00PM (1 child)
Well, I know a certain 86 year old woman who gets $500 per month from Social Security, and her 56 year old daughter who is a full-time live-in caregiver, basically sponging off of the paid-for mobile home and mom's SS check...
On that "wealthy" backdrop, they get high speed internet for $10 per month, and could afford $7.99 per month for streaming, but there's a relative with the "premium" two streams Netflix account at $10.99 per month who shares his password with them.
If you're wealthy enough to have a roof over your head and any kind of TV screen, you're wealthy enough to subscribe to Netflix.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @05:49PM
I doubt that, especially considering the latest SIPP results. Only 78% of trackable households (those with a roof over their heads, among other permanence criteria) owned a computer, less than 70% a dishwasher, and 85% a clothes washer (and less own a dryer). Additionally, 10% live in a place with a "chronic" pest problem. A similar number had at least one utility disconnected, over 20% are without access to air conditioning. That doesn't even cover food and other "essential expenses" insecurity. I'm pretty sure that many of the people above would rather have what they are missing, rather than a Netflix subscription.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @08:13PM
Stating 'we' is a bit presumptuous. Speak for yourself.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Wednesday July 18 2018, @04:48PM (3 children)
The growth that you speak of that's possible if the potential customer base grows with the population is not the growth that the business forecasters who are now apparently disappointed and surprised speak of.
They are talking about a continued, sustained growth rate that keeps pace with the growth has been occurring for some time.
You're talking about a reasonable, rational, reality-based growth rate that's much slower (and more sustainable) than what they are talking about. Because the reality-based one is slower, they count that one as "not growth" in the comparatively fast sense that they were talking about.
To my way of thinking, services like netflix have plenty of room for that faster growth if two conditions are met:
I am pretty sure these two conditions still exist, providing the strategy of taking customers (#2) away from competition (#1), but I don't think my way of thinking much resembles their way of thinking either.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 18 2018, @04:54PM (2 children)
Netflix's growth to-date has been ridiculously astounding, to expect it to continue like that forever is foolish. I agree, they will most likely rebound from the current setback and continue to grow "fast" in the future.
They basically combined "free bandwidth" of the internet with the killer bandwidth app: video entertainment, and managed to dominate the market.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @06:19PM (1 child)
What "rebound" are you talking about? They grew this quarter JUST AS FAST as they did in the same quarter last year.
The idiots on wall street are bitching because it didn't grow FASTER.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Wednesday July 18 2018, @07:34PM
So, if their growth did not grow, but only remained the same, THAT'S STAGNATION! I guess. Growth has to be growing for the growth to be growth. A slightly smaller growth rate, see, would be a SHRINKING growth rate, and everyone who forecasts for businesses and stock bettors and bookmakers knows that shrinking is bad for growth.