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Netflix: the decline in subscriber engagement worries investors

While Netflix’s business model increasingly relies on its ad-supported offering, the streaming platform is facing a new major challenge. According to a recent financial analysis, average viewing time per user is in sharp decline, forcing the American giant to rethink its strategy to retain its audience’s attention and reassure its investors.

The finding is quantified and, to say the least, unexpected for the global leader in [abc]SVOD[/abc]. At a time when the Los Gatos firm’s revenue depends increasingly on advertising income, its new challenge is not so much to win over new subscribers as it is to encourage existing members to watch its programs. On average, a Netflix subscriber watches 9% less content on the platform than three years ago.

 

The public’s attention, the real crux of the matter

This is at least the estimate reported by the financial services company Wells Fargo. Its analysts therefore observe a tangible decline in engagement on the part of viewers, despite the good quarterly results regularly posted by Netflix, as well as a subscription cancellation rate (the famous “Churn”) that remains very low.

 

Advertising as a growth driver

This gives investors food for thought as they wonder how the [abc]streaming[/abc] giant can continue to grow if members are watching fewer and fewer programs. Indeed, Wells Fargo believes that advertising will account for more than a third of Netflix’s future revenue growth. Yet public engagement is essential to continue attracting advertisers.

 

A paradigm shift for streaming

Thus, after spending years convincing consumers to pay for streaming, Netflix faces a new challenge: encouraging them to watch its programs rather than migrating to other platforms.

 

 

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