Netflix reported 89.6 million paid streaming subscribers across the United States and Canada in the fourth quarter of 2024. This marked a growth of over nine million compared with the same quarter of the previous year. Why is Netflix losing subscribers? The EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) region is Netflix's top-performing market in terms of subscribers, surpassing North America in the third quarter of 2022 for the first time. The company reported losing an estimated one million users worldwide in the second quarter of 2022, with the number of Netflix users standing at approximately 221 million that quarter. But why have audiences canceled their subscriptions? One reason for the unprecedented drop in account holders is Netflix's monthly fee, which has been increasing rapidly over the past few years. On top of that, viewers have also voiced criticism over Netflix's cancellation of popular shows and its lack of big movie franchises. What are audiences watching? Netflix's vast content library offers anything from reality TV to Hollywood blockbusters, with shows and movies delivered in many languages. As of mid-2024, European countries such as Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Slovenia boasted the largest content catalogs on Netflix. In the U.S., where audiences could choose from approximately 6,900 titles, “NCIS” and “Suits” ranked among the most popular streaming series on Netflix in 2023. As of that year, fan favorites “Stranger Things” and “3 Body Problem” were the most expensive Netflix original series, with production costs of 30 and 20 million U.S. dollars per episode, respectively.

Netflix's global subscriber base has reached an impressive milestone, surpassing 300 million paid subscribers worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2024. This marks a significant increase of nearly 20 million subscribers compared to the previous quarter, solidifying Netflix's position as a dominant force in the streaming industry. Adapting to customer losses Netflix's growth has not always been consistent. During the first half of 2022, the streaming giant lost over one million customers. In response to these losses, Netflix introduced an ad-supported tier in November of that same year. This strategic move has paid off, with the lower-cost plan attracting 70 million monthly active users globally by November 2024, demonstrating Netflix's ability to adapt to changing market conditions and consumer preferences. Global expansion Netflix continues to focus on international markets, with a forecast suggesting that the Asia Pacific region is expected to see the most substantial growth in the upcoming years, potentially reaching around 70.1 million subscribers by 2029. To correspond to the needs of the non-American target group, the company has heavily invested in international content in recent years, with Korean, Spanish, and Japanese being the most watched non-English content languages on the platform.

The number of Netflix viewers in the United States was reportedly expected to reach 174.7 million as of 2021, and is forecast to increase annually. By the year 2025, it is projected that there will be over 188 million people in the U.S. watching content on the video on demand platform.

In 2024, Netflix revealed that it had 89.63 million paying streaming subscribers in the United States and Canada. North America had long been Netflix's biggest market, though subscriber numbers in the EMEA region surpassed that in the U.S. and Canada for the first time during 2022. The number of paid streaming memberships in Asia Pacific grew the most, by 13 percent compared with the previous year.

Forecasts made in late 2017 suggest that by 2023 the United States will have the highest number of Netflix subscribers in the world, with sources anticipating a total of 69.1 million subscribers in the country by this time. Given that the United States was the leading Netflix market worldwide in 2018 with over 64 percent of digital video viewers watching Netflix at least once per month, the predictions for 2023 could indeed come to fruition.

Following closely behind will be the United Kingdom with around 12 million subscribers, whereas Mexico, France and India are all expected to have fewer than six million Netflix subscribers by 2023.

Netflix’s global position

With a wealth of original content flooding onto the platform every month, Netflix has established itself not only as an industry leader when it comes to sourcing existing content for its subscribers to enjoy, but also in terms of its dedication to creating quality shows of its own. Some of the most successful shows in the market include Netflix originals, such as ‘Orange is the New Black’ and ‘Stranger Things’.

According to its company reports, Netflix’s worldwide subscribers in early 2019 amounted to over 155 million, more than triple the number recorded five years earlier. As well a subscriber increase, the company also announced further growth in its average monthly revenue per paying customer worldwide. Estimates foresee a growth in Netflix subscribers not only in North America and Western Europe, but also a surge in Netflix subscribers in Latin America over the coming years, as well as significant increases in developing markets.

Netflix is distinctly more popular with younger consumers in the United States than with older generations. According to the findings of a recent survey, around 75 percent of respondents aged 18 to 34 subscribed to Netflix as of mid-2021, compared to just 44 percent of those aged 65 or above.

Netflix predicts further subscriber loss

Netflix is the most popular subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service worldwide. Millions of viewers from various demographics access the platform each day, but despite its availability in over 190 countries and its ever-expanding content catalog, Netflix reported a subscriber loss of around 200 thousand in the first quarter of 2022. It was the first time in over a decade that the streamer experienced a drop in user numbers, but according to the company, this downward trend might very well continue in the second quarter of the year. According to company reports, Netflix expects to lose an additional two million subscribers by mid-2022.

Cracking down on password sharing

Credential sharing has become an essential part of the video-on-demand (VOD) experience. Companies can stand out in today’s crowded streaming space by offering viewers to create multiple profiles and split subscription costs with other people in their household – which might be particularly appealing to younger audiences. Netflix is one of the first services to have provided multiple subscription options at various price tiers, but even so, the company has also acknowledged that millions of people share their login data without paying for additional accounts. In 2021, Netflix was estimated to have lost over 1.07 billion U.S. dollars in revenue due to password sharing. In 2022, the company reacted by announcing to charge additional sub-account fees for people streaming content outside the primary account holder’s household.

It was estimated that, by the end of 2023, the number of subscribers of Netflix in Latin America will have surpassed 40 million. It is further expected that Netflix will gather more than 52 million subscribers in the region at the end of 2027.

As of March 2023, 38 percent of respondents to a survey held in the United States had a current Netflix subscription and did not share a password with anyone. Meanwhile, 11 percent did not subscribe, but used a password from someone else.

This statistic shows the share of pay TV versus Netflix subscribers in the United States as of October 2018. In 2018, Netflix usage overtook cable and satellite television for the first time, with 76 percent of survey respondents stating that they used Netflix compared to 67 percent of adults who said they used a traditional pay TV service.

According to a recent study conducted in the U.S., Netflix's latest plan addition, basic with ads, accounted for 30 percent of the total amount of sign-ups to the streaming service in September 2023, up from 10 percent of sign-ups recorded in November 2022, when the ad-supported plan was launched. In comparison, most of the sign-ups were reported by standard subscribers, with a share of 42 percent. The basic plan declined in popularity until Netflix removed this option entirely.

Netflix’s success in the video streaming market has had a knock-on effect on its number of paying DVD subscribers – in the fourth quarter of 2019, there were just 2.15 million in the United States. Whilst this figure is still impressive in an age where DVDs are far less popular than they used to be, a glance at how many DVD subscribers Netflix had just a few years ago highlights the huge changes in the company’s focus. Netflix declined to report its DVD subscriber numbers in the first or second quarters of 2020.

In the final quarter of 2011, there were 11.04 million subscribers to the company’s DVD segment, but by the same time in 2012 the number had dropped to a little over eight million. Significant decreases continued for years, and in the second quarter of 2018 the number of DVD subscribers dropped below three million for the first time. Meanwhile, the number of Netflix’s paying streaming subscribers tripled in eight years.

How is Netflix’s DVD business still viable?

Netflix started out as an online DVD rental store in 1998 and is now leader of the video streaming market. Given the company’s long-established success in the industry, questions have been raised about the current and future success of its DVD segment.

Unsurprisingly, the growth in the video streaming has led to a decline in physical video formats. Just over 4.8 million DVD players were sold in the United States in 2017, less than half the amount sold three years previously. However, there must be a reason why millions of people still subscribe to Netflix’s DVD service (and there is).

Streaming shows online, particularly whole movies, means that the consumer needs a lot of bandwidth. Netflix itself has recommended the ideal internet speed required in order to enjoy a satisfying streaming experience, suggesting 0.5 Mbps for streaming in general and 5 Mbps for HD content. For the megabits per second required to enjoy Ultra HD or 4K quality content, multiply that last figure by five.

Large amounts of Netflix users share their account with other people, and more than half of households with users aged 18 to 34 years old stream an SVOD service on a daily basis. Should multiple members of the same household wish to stream Netflix content at the same time, the number of megabits per second for that household increases. Add online gaming, Spotify, YouTube and video calls into the mix and the necessary internet speed goes up and up. This costs money and requires the home to be within reach of a broadband provider that can accommodate heavy internet usage. Moreover, there are media lovers out there without any kind of broadband access at all. In contrast, ordering a DVD to be delivered to your front door relies purely on the postal service, which has access to every zip code in the country.

Internet speed aside, another majorly appealing element of Netflix’s DVD business is the sheer amount of content on offer. Licensing shows and movies to stream can be problematic and expensive, causing online content to appear and disappear without warning. This is not the case for DVDs, and users are able to access movies which may never be legally available on the internet. Whilst Netflix’s DVD segment is unlikely to see a significant resurgence, this part of the company’s business is still profitable, and whilst that remains the be the case, the smart business decision is to keep it running.

At the end of 2024, Over 53 million people in Latin America paid for a Netflix subscription, up from approximately 46 million paying members recorded a year earlier. This represents an annual increase of 15.2 percent. Meanwhile, Netflix's average monthly revenue per paying streaming membership (ARPU) in Latin America dropped by five percent in 2024.

According to the most recently available data, 77 percent of surveyed video on demand users in the United States subscribed to Netflix. The streaming service giant’s success in the United States is hardly a secret – Netflix is the leading video subscription service in the U.S., with its subscriber numbers eclipsing all other streaming companies including Hulu and Amazon.

Video on Demand

Video on demand (often abbreviated simply to VoD) lets users watch the content they want, whenever they want, and thus has a major advantage over traditional over the air programming. With consumers leading increasingly hectic lifestyles and growing more reliant on digital media and devices which allow them to watch, read and listen to content on the go, VoD offers an effective solution.

The ability to catch up on TV shows after they have aired provides viewers with a way to enjoy their favorite content without scheduling their lives around it. Shows can now be enjoyed on a morning or evening commute, during work breaks and via Wi-Fi in public places across the globe, regardless of whether they aired the previous day or the previous year. Some U.S. adults even admitted to subscribing to a streaming service exclusively to watch a specific show – 61 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds said that they had done this as of early 2019, as well as 27 percent of adults aged 65 or older.

Video on demand platforms also accommodate the vast array of different user preferences, and for U.S. adults there are many reasons to sign up to subscription a VoD service. Original content was cited as a main reason for signing up to such a service, however others enjoyed the back-catalogue of movies available whilst some simply liked being able to access content from countries outside the United States.

The days where viewers would sit down at the same time every evening after work to watch their most loved shows are gradually disappearing, and with Netflix churning out more original content every month, in years to come those times may have gone completely.

As of December 31, 2019 Netflix had approximately 2.15 million DVD subscribers in the United States, down from 2.71 a year earlier. The company also had 106.05 million subscribers in countries outside the United States, but the U.S. remained Netflix's biggest market. In 2012, Netflix changed its reporting of subscriber figures. Historical figures can be found here.

As of August 2021, Gen Zers were the most likely group in the U.S. to have a current Netflix subscription, with 78 percent saying that they subscribed to the service, compared to just 49 percent of Baby Boomers. Meanwhile, GenXers were the most likely to subscribe in the past, but not anymore.

As of March 2024, 34 percent of Netflix subscribers in the United States had ever played mobile games on Netflix. Among those aged 18 to 34 years, 31 percent of respondents stated that they had ever done so.

An October 2022 survey found that most of U.S. Netflix subscribers would keep their subscription if the service included ads, with 35 percent saying that they would do so if the fee declined. However, 31 percent said they would not keep a Netflix subscription if it became ad-funded.

By 2026, around 86 million Europeans are forecast to have a Netflix subscription. In 2020 this figure stood at just below 60 million Netflix subscribers in Europe. As of the first quarter of 2021, Netflix had almost 210 million paying subscribers worldwide.

History of Netflix Netflix was founded in the United States in 1997, offering media through online streams or through a DVD-by-mail service. Now, the service is available across more than 190 countries globally and boasts revenues of almost 25 billion U.S. dollars. As of the first quarter of 2020, its leading markets included the U.S., Brazil, and the UK, although it is popular across many European countries.

Video-on-Demand Despite some European countries having access to as many as around 600 legal options for Video-on-Demand services, in terms of use there are two clear front runners. As of 2020, Netflix held a market share of almost 40 percent of the Subscription Video-on-Demand services in the EU, while Amazon came second with about a third of the market.

A forecast projected that over 35 million of Netflix's subscribers will be using the ad-supported tier worldwide by 2027, up from an estimated 400,000 in 2022. The EMEA region is projected to surpass the number of ad-supported subscribers in the U.S. and Canada by 2026, amassing 9.4 million customers that year. After losing a substantial number of customers at the beginning of 2022, the streaming giant announced the launch of an ad-supported tier at the end of the year to offset more subscriber and income losses.

Netflix's ad-supported tier is gaining traction among cost-conscious viewers, particularly among older demographics in the United States. A 2024 survey revealed that around 60 percent of subscribers aged 45 years and older cited cost savings as a key factor in choosing the ad-based plan. In contrast, 25 to-34-year-olds used ad-supported content on Netflix least.