On Monday, Netflix revealed it lost 800,000 subscribers in the third quarter — even more than were expected in the wake of its price-changing and Qwikster debacles.
And yet CEO Reed Hastings says there are no plans to woo back lost subscribers: "The focus is on bringing back our reputation and brand strength, but it won't happen through grand gestures." [WSJ]
But then again, only a month ago, NYmag had a slightly more upbeat take when Josef Adalian defended the price hike as something Netflix had to do to stay competitive with other companies jumping into the streaming pool:
"If you're annoyed by the Netflix price hike, consider a July report (on CNN.com) that quoted a media analyst predicting that by the end of next year, the price Netflix pays to license content from studios and networks will soar from around $180 million now to nearly $2 billion. Another analyst, Atul Bagga of ThinkEquity, told the site, "Studios are starting to put their foot down. They weren't paying attention to streaming at all, but now they see an opportunity to monetize. And they're going to take it." And you, in turn, are going to have to pay. Hollywood greed? Yes, though considering how much money they used to dependably get from DVD sales and rental chains that they're no longer getting, they're just trying to crawl their way back to preexisting base levels of greed. But it's also clear the movie and TV businesses are trying to learn from the music industry's many, many mistakes."It's still too early to decide if the price hike was the right thing to do, long term, but it can't be argued that CEO Hastings and the marketing department have been tone deaf in handling the price hike.
"[E]ight bucks for all you can stream is still outrageously affordable, particularly compared to other forms of media ($10 for a single album, nearly $100 for a concert or play). Yes, you might not be able to get everything you want, but the selection will still be huge."
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