Netflix has lost its spot at the top of the streaming world that it held since it was created more than a decade ago. As revealed by JustWatch, moves such as preventing the use of shared accounts and raising prices practically everywhere in the world (with the exception of Latin America) hurt the company. As a result, during the first quarter of 2023, Netflix ceased to be the most viewed platform in the United States:
According to @JustWatch, by the first quarter of 2023, Netflix is projected to move into second place among the most-viewed platforms, behind Prime Video.
Disney Plus is projected to drop in percentage, with HBO Max on its heels.
📣 Según @JustWatch, en el primer trimestre de 2023, Netflix habría pasado a segundo lugar de la plataforma más visionada, por detrás de Prime Video. 👀
Disney+ bajaría en porcentaje y le pasaría los talones HBO Max. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/kNPp77eUM9
— sergiojamon.zip (@SergiojamonOR) April 17, 2023
Now that title falls to Amazon Prime Video. The platform managed to get 21% of Americans to use its service, versus 20% who said they still continued to watch more Netflix. Part of its success could be due to the platform coming with the Amazon Prime subscription package. That is, enjoying your shows and movies is free if you pay for Amazon Prime shipping. It also comes with other benefits, such as the e-commerce company's music library.
Third place goes to Disney Plus. Disney's platform was watched by 15% of Americans surveyed. Its time in third may be short-lived, however, as HBO Max is hot on its heels at 14% of nation's viewers.
Netflix's fall comes as no surprise. The platform recently decided to prevent the use of shared accounts and, since then, millions of subscribers around the world have decided to abandon the platform.
On top of that, a general price hike (with the exception of Latin America) and the introduction of a cheaper plan which included advertising and did not include some of the company's series and movies such as The Good Place, Vikings or Back to the Future. Fortunately some of its other big hits such as Stranger Things, The Witcher and The Crown are still available with the advertising plan, which has helped mitigate the damage.
Netflix fails with its first live stream
The list of things to improve on the platform is only growing. Netflix decided to try its luck with its first live broadcast. It did so with Love is Blind, a reality show whose fourth season premiered this Sunday. However, the problems did not take long to arrive, with technical difficulties arising in the big moment, which Netflix tried to disguise with messages such as the following: "Love is... something that comes late." Blockbuster, the defunct movie rental chain, used this opportunity to poke fun at its old rival:
Remember renting vhs’ from us. You could start it on time no problem… This is what we get.
— Blockbuster (@blockbuster) April 17, 2023
Netflix managed to start the live stream, but it was short-lived. The problems persisted. Thousands of viewers claimed that they could not see the live broadcast and only saw a black screen. Fifteen minutes later (and 75 minutes after the original start was planned), the company threw in the towel and published the following message:
To everyone who stayed up late, woke up early, gave up their Sunday afternoon… we are incredibly sorry that the Love is Blind Live Reunion did not turn out as we had planned. We're filming it now and we'll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible. Again, thank you and…
— Netflix (@netflix) April 17, 2023
This is one more thing to add to the list of failures that Netflix has accumulated lately, and that could be the cause of the streaming platform continuing to lose viewers to others such as Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus and HBO Max, among others.
