Netflix subscriber growth surges after password sharing crackdown

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The video streaming service added 5.9 million subscribers during the April-June period

Netflix has enjoyed its biggest spring-time spurt in subscribers since the early days of the pandemic three years ago.

The video streaming service added 5.9 million subscribers during the April-June period, according to numbers released on Wednesday along with its latest quarterly financial results.

The gains easily surpassed the roughly 2.2 million additional subscribers that analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had anticipated. Netflix ended June with 238.4 million worldwide subscribers.

The subscriber surge is the latest sign that a recent crackdown on password sharing and the roll-out of a cheaper version of its video streaming service are paying off.

However, investors seemed unsatisfied, perhaps rattled by management commentary in a shareholder letter warning “quite a competitive battle” is continuing to unfold against the backdrop of ongoing strikes by both the writers and actors union in the US that is already bogging down much of Hollywood and threatening to clog the pipelines feeding entertainment to streaming services.

Netflix’s stock price fell 4% in Wednesday’s extended trading. The decline could also have reflected some investors locking in profits that have accrued while the shares have climbed by more than 50% so far this year.

The second-quarter performance marked Netflix’s biggest spring — traditionally the company’s slowest stretch of growth — since gaining 10 million subscribers during the same period in 2020 under dramatically different market conditions.

In 2020, people were still largely stuck at home and looking for ways to keep themselves entertained while governments around the world struggled to find a way to contain the spread of the pandemic.

Now, Netflix finds itself trying to bounce back from a growth slowdown amid stiff video streaming competition and inflationary pressures that have caused many households to clamp down on spending, especially on discretionary items such as entertainment.

As an antidote, Netflix last year introduced a low-priced option that includes commercials and then began to block the rampant sharing of passwords that has enabled an estimated 100 million people worldwide to watch its TV series and films for free.

Freeloading viewers are now being required to open their own accounts unless a subscriber with a standard or premium plan agrees to pay an 8 dollar monthly surcharge to allow more people living in different households to watch.

In its shareholder letter, management said the crackdown on password sharing is resulting in a “healthy conversion of borrower households into full paying Netflix memberships”.

As part of Wednesday’s earnings release, Netflix also revealed it is phasing out its cheapest ad-free plan – a service that costs 10 dollars in the US. Existing subscribers already paying for this basic plan will be allowed to keep it.

The shift appears designed to get more people to switch to the 7 dollar monthly plan that includes commercials in hopes of boosting ad revenue or sign up for its 15.50 dollar monthly standard plan or 20 dollar monthly premium plan.

“While we’ve made steady progress this year, we have more work to do to reaccelerate our growth,” Netflix management told shareholders in its letter.

The pricing changes that have already been made helped Netflix boost its second-quarter revenue by 3% from the same time last year to 8.2 billon dollars (£6.34 billion), falling below analyst forecasts.

Netflix earned 1.49 billion dollars (£1.15 billion) during the period, compared with 1.44 billion dollars (£1.11 billion) last year. But earnings per share came in at 3.29 dollars per share, eclipsing the average analyst estimate of 2.85 dollars per share, according to FactSet.

Netflix did not delve into the potential fallout from the current walkout by writers and actors in the US.

The dispute revolves largely around the payment system used in video streaming and the rise of artificial intelligence technology threatening to exploit the work of humans and eventually replace them.

Unlike traditional movie and TV studios in the US, Netflix has been able to keep feeding its entertainment pipeline with shows that it has been able to use to keep luring in and retaining subscribers.

Published: 19/07/2023 by Radio NewsHub

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Governments pledge to ban trail hunting in spotlight as Boxing Day hunts meet

The Government is under pressure over its manifesto pledge to ban trail hunting as hunts gather for the traditional Boxing Day meet. Anti-hunting campaigners are urging them to deliver on the promise to ban trail hunting – a practice in which a scent is laid across the countryside for hounds and riders to follow as an alternative to banned fox hunting, but which has been criticised as a “smokescreen” for illegal activity. But the Countryside Alliance has warned further changes to the law are “completely unjustified”, as people were carrying out a legitimate, legal activity that brought the rural community together. Tim Bonner, the alliance’s chief executive, also said the issue of trail hunting was irrelevant to most people and it would be “extraordinary” for Labour to focus on it given the poor state of relations with rural communities. Labour, which introduced the original ban on hunting with dogs in 2004, pledged in its manifesto this year to ban trail hunting, as part of what it says are measures to “improve animal welfare”. A spokesperson for the Environment Department (Defra) confirmed the Government planned to ban trail hunting, telling the PA news agency: “This government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious animal welfare plans in a generation and that is exactly what we will do. “We are committed to a ban on trail hunting, which is being exploited as a smokescreen to cruelly kill foxes and hares.” The League Against Cruel Sports said figures compiled by its intelligence team found that since the beginning of August, 186 foxes were reported being pursued by hunts and there were 220 reports relating to suspected illegal hunting incidents. There were also 553 reports of “hunt havoc”, in which hounds caused disruption such as chasing other wild animals or pets, worrying livestock or causing traffic incidents, or disturbing the public, the organisation said. Emma Judd, head of campaigns at the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “It’s 20 years since the Hunting Act was passed but, since then, figures we compile consistently suggest hunts still chase and kill foxes as they did before the ban. “Hunts may claim they are following a pre-laid animal scent trail, known as trail hunting, but this has been shown to be nothing but a smokescreen to conceal old-fashioned illegal hunting.” She said trail hunting and loopholes in the Hunting Act made it “all but impossible” to enforce the law, and called for the Government to strengthen the legislation and introduce custodial sentences for those hunting wild animals with dogs, and to set out a timetable for doing so. Dan Norris, Labour MP for North East Somerset and Hanham and chairman of the League Against Cruel Sports, urged ministers to “listen to the majority view, including in rural areas, to close the legal loopholes that allow needless cruelty to animals, and implement a proper ban on hunting once and for all”. But Mr Bonner accused parts of the Labour Party of the politics of “perceived class and prejudice” and said: “It’s very sad that we may be going back to a point where we have to waste even more parliamentary time on this irrelevant issue. “If they are claiming that somehow this law needs to be changed to address illegal behaviour, then it needs to be very carefully thought through, and any proposals are brought forward do just need to address that. “Because what there can’t be any any case for is stopping people going into the countryside with a pack of hounds or dogs, and carrying out a completely benign activity, which is what hunts are doing.” He said there were 12,000 hunting days carried out each year which were legal and legitimate. While he said moves to require hunts to lay non animal-based scents and bring in a “recklessness” element to the offence would be survivable for most hunts, he warned Labour against “opening Pandora’s box” by revisiting the legislation, as he said it could become a toxic political battle. In the wake of widespread anger with Labour in rural communities over issues such as changes to inheritance tax for farm businesses and an acceleration of the phaseout of farming subsidies in favour of environmental payments, Mr Bonner also said it would be extraordinary to push a ban. “Given where the government is in its relationship with the countryside already, frankly it would seem extraordinary that they’d want to double down on an issue which really doesn’t matter.” While there are hundreds of jobs supported by hunting, it is a relatively niche activity, he said, but added it plays a key role in parts of rural Britain where farming is tough and mental health and loneliness are big issues. “It’s one of those elements that brings the rural community together and to remove that through an act of spite, if that was to happen, would be something which I think people would react extremely badly to,” he said. Joe Emmett, master and huntsman of the South Devon Hunt, said: “The hunt plays an important role in our local community and meets like Boxing Day are the perfect opportunity for locals and visitors to the area to come together.” The League Against Cruel Sports said polling earlier this year showed more than three quarters (76%) of the British public supported strengthening the Hunting Act, but the Countryside Alliance pointed to a survey over the weekend of more than 2,000 people in which just 5% put it in their top three issues for voting in the next election. Published: 26/12/2024 by Radio NewsHub

Train reliability hits the buffers as annual cancellations exceed 360000

More than 360,000 train services across Britain were fully or part-cancelled in the past year as reliability is at a joint record low amid major staffing shortages. PA news agency analysis of the latest Office of Rail and Road data found 208,000 services were fully axed in the year to November 9. A further 161,000 were part-cancelled, meaning they did not serve at least one of their scheduled stops. The rail industry produces a cancellations score – counting full cancellations as one and part-cancellations as half – which shows the equivalent of 4.0% of the 7.3 million trains planned in that period were cancelled. That is the joint worst reliability performance in figures dating back to March 2015, when the annual cancellations score was just 1.9%. Services are being particularly badly disrupted on Sundays as many operators rely on train drivers or guards volunteering to work paid overtime on that day. Great Western Railway, Northern and ScotRail are among the operators affected. Rail journalist Tony Miles, of Modern Railways magazine, said: “Much of (the poor performance) is to do with a failure of successive governments to really resolve the staffing issues on rail, and that includes getting a proper seven-day railway in the terms and conditions (of train crew) – and recruiting enough staff – so they don’t have to rely on overtime and rest-day working. “This is putting people off trains and back onto the roads, which is completely contrary to what Government ambition should be.” Mr Miles claimed some train drivers have opted out of extra shifts since the Labour Government offered a multi-year pay deal to their union Aslef without changes to terms and conditions. He predicted cancellation figures are “probably going to get worse” because drivers are retiring faster than they are being recruited, describing the situation as a “ticking time bomb”. Mr Miles said Network Rail “struggling” to maintain its infrastructure because of inadequate funding is also partly to blame for the high number of cancellations. He added there is an increase in the number of train staff off work because of sickness as the coronavirus pandemic means many people with a virus now think staying at home to avoid spreading it is better than struggling into work. Michael Solomon Williams, of pressure group Campaign for Better Transport, said: “Delays and cancellations erode passengers’ faith in the railways. “The rail industry and Government must work together to invest in both the workforce and infrastructure to improve reliability across the whole network.” The operator with the highest cancellations score in the year to November 9 was Avanti West Coast at 7.8%. It was followed by CrossCountry (7.4%), Northern (5.7%) and Govia Thameslink Railway (5.2%). The best performing operator was c2c – which runs services between London and Essex – with a score of 1.6%. In November, then-transport secretary Louise Haigh said train operators have been asked to prepare for their performance statistics to be displayed at most stations to boost transparency. Her successor, Heidi Alexander, told PA earlier this month: “We are clear that we need to move to a seven-day railway. “We are too over-reliant on rest day working and so that’s a big priority for me as we move into the new year.” A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Passengers are being let down by poor services, which is why we are committed to delivering the biggest overhaul of the railways in a generation. “Bringing services back into public ownership will put passengers at the heart of everything we do and allow us to reinvest into our railways. “We have been clear we will not tolerate poor performance and will continue to hold all operators to account, regardless of ownership.” A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, said: “We know how much passengers rely on the railway and the importance of reliable and punctual services. “Rail staff work hard to enable five million journeys every day and the industry is working together to address the main causes of delays and cancellations. “Delays and cancellations can occur due to various factors like weather and flooding, industrial action, infrastructure issues such as track or signalling faults, train faults and external incidents such as trespass. “When this happens, we are raising awareness of delay repay compensation to ensure passengers can easily claim what they are entitled to.” Published: 26/12/2024 by Radio NewsHub

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Netflix subscriber growth surges after password sharing crackdown

The video streaming service added 5.9 million subscribers during the April-June period

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Governments pledge to ban trail hunting in spotlight as Boxing Day hunts meet

Train reliability hits the buffers as annual cancellations exceed 360000

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