Netflix adds 15.8 million subscribers

Netflix and other streaming content platforms are seeing a huge increase in demand due to self isolating during life under Corona. Netflix’s number didn’t explode until March, but since then Netflix has grown is subscriber base by 15.8 million subscribers, Netflix shared in a letter to its shareholders.

Netflix’s inventments into is own orginal content way before the Coronavirus hit has now paid off. Netflix was likely building up a war chest of content to defend its lead in the streaming wars. Netflix now has 182 million subscribers worldwide and Netflix saw quarterly revenue of $5.77 billion.

According to Netflix’s letter to its shareholders, the first line reads “In our 20+ year history, we have never seen a future more uncertain or unsettling.”

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They continue with “The coronavirus has reached every corner of the world and, in the absence of a widespread treatment or vaccine, no one knows how or when this terrible crisis will end. What’s clear is the escalating human cost in terms of lost lives and lost jobs, with tens of millions of people now out of work.”

They also acknowledge that they are fortunate to have a service that is “more meaningful to people confined at home, and which we can operate remotely with minimal disruption in the short to medium term.”

+100 pts. for Remote Work

By helping people connect with stories they love, we are able to provide comfort and escape as well as a sense of community during this pandemic. So our focus has been on maintaining the quality of our service while our employees around the world adapt to working from home.

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For the most part, this has gone smoothly. Our product teams, for example, have been relatively
unaffected. As a precaution, we have temporarily reduced the number of product innovations we try, while continuing to release features that we know will add meaningful value for our members, such as improved parental controls.

They went on to say “We expect viewing to decline and membership growth to decelerate as home confinement ends, which we hope is soon.”

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This is an honest acknowledgement of the realities of the moment in time for Netflix, one that I am sure their shareholders appreciate.

“However, we have seen significant disruption when it comes to customer support and content
production. On the customer support side, we’ve now fixed most of our work-from-home challenges. In addition, we’ve taken on another 2,000 agents (all working remotely), so our customer service levels are almost fully restored despite the increased demand,” Netflix stated.

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Netflix went on to address production challenges, “When it comes to production, almost all filming has now been stopped globally, with the exception of a few countries like Korea and Iceland. This has been devastating for millions of workers in the TV and film industry – electricians, hair and make-up artists, carpenters and drivers who are often paid hourly wages and work project-to-project.”

Netflix address the concern that quality might slip due to the current challenges with ” Netflix’s culture is designed to empower decision making at all levels of the company. Throughout this crisis, our employees have been working tirelessly to maintain the quality of our service and to find quick, practical solutions to the problems Netflix and our partners face.”

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Then went on to say ” For example, within two weeks of the shelter-in-place orders coming into effect in Los Angeles, most of our animation production team was back up and running, working from home. On the post production
side, we’ve been able to get 200+ projects going remotely. Most of our series writers’ rooms are
operating virtually. However, we’ve been unable to create dubs in Italian and some other languages due to home confinement of our voice talent for a handful of titles launching in April and May. But we hope that with the help of guilds around the world, voice actors can be set up from home, ensuring that they can stay safe and continue to earn a living. Similar efforts are underway for both music and visual
effects.

Analysts, like Nason see Netflix as a “foundational service. It’s already in the majority of people’s homes who are going to pay for Netflix. Plus, people aren’t likely to give it up when it comes time to cut down on streaming services.”

Source: Netflix