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After 25 years in the business, Netflix is making a huge make over

After 25 years in the business, Netflix is making a huge make over. It is doing away with its initial business of mail order  DVDs.  The DVD postal service was launched as an alternative  to DVD rental stores.  Customers could  rent DVDs of select shows and films  that would be sent directly to their homes.

Today the business generates only $ 126 million of Netlfix’s annual turnover of $ 31.6 billon. After the wind down, Netflix is cracking down on free password sharing among its subscribers. It had recently launched a new password sharing policy in US which includes paid sharing. This policy is being introduced to all its 231 million paid subscribers across 190 countries. Also, on the anvil are more streams, like subscription only and ad driven streams.

Netflix registered a revenue of $ 8.16 billion in the first quarter of 2023, slightly lower than its projected target of $ 8.24 billion. During this period the company added 1.75 million new customers as against 7.66 million customers last quarter. Though the customer additions look lower, it is considered a significant turnaround, as Netflix lost 200,000 customers in the first quarter of 2022.

Netflix’s India business too is looking up with engagement growing nearly 30 % in the first quarter of 2023 vis a vis last year. This follows lowering of prices by 20 to 60 %, in December 2021, leading to deepening the penetration of the market. This also led to a revenue growth of 24 per cent in 2022 as against 19 % in 2021. Significant upgradation of the content portfolio also played a significant role in the enhanced business. Netflix now plans to replicate the India model to 116 other countries, though they contribute only 5 per cent of the overall business.