Earlier this year, the revelation came that formerNetflixco-CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings donated $7 million dollars of his own money to supportKamala Harris’ bid for the White House. The news sparkedan immediate backlash on social media, with the hashtag #CancelNetflix trending for more than 24 hours. Now, two months later, we have our first lookat how Hastings’ political contribution affected the streaming juggernauts' bottom line.
According to a new report fromIndieWire, data collected from Antenna showsthat Netflix’s average daily cancellations increased 2.7x for the period of July 25–29when compared to the previous two weeks, with the 26th providing the largest number of users saying adios to the platform in the past year. Things returned to normal for Netflix by the end of the month, but it’s clear that some damage had been done when you take into consideration that June averaged 1.8% in cancellations and August averaged 2.0%. By the time the dust had settled, July’s number was slightly higher, sitting at 2.8%.
No, This Isn’t the End of Netflix
Founded in 1997 by Hastings and Marc Randolph, Netflix started off both selling and renting DVDs by mail, with Tim Burton’sBeetlejuicebeing the first ever movie the company sent out. After a year, it was obvious that the bulk of their revenue was generated from rentals, so that’s where the focus was placed going forward. 10 years later, its billionth DVD was sent out (the 2006 filmBabel), and the company entered the realm of streaming, offering a measly 1,000 titles at the time it launched its video on demand service. Since then, the company has grown exponentially,and now develops its own content which includes movies, TV shows, and games.Their last DVD rental, 2010sTrue Grit, wassent out in 2023.
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Netflix is expected to announce its third-quarter earnings on October 17 for the period of July through September, and while it will be interesting to see how the #CancelNetflix trend affected their performance, we don’t expect any big surprises from the streaming giant,whose reports of their death have been greatly exaggerated.
