Netflix remains popular for remote control jockeys, and is sitting on billions of dollars in revenue, too, but it lost nearly a half-million subscribers in the U.S. and in Canada during the second quarter of the year.
The streaming giant acknowledged the drop-off of viewers in a letter to corporate shareholders in which it also boasted about 1.5 million new subscribers, The Hill reported in a July 21 story.
Wall Street website FXStreet reported this week that Netflix stock dipped slightly over news of the subscriber drop. The company predictably saw explosive growth during the pandemic, when viewers were stuck at home.
Netflix blamed COVID-19 for what it called “lumpiness in our membership growth,” but Tim Winter of the Parent's Television and Media Council insists there is another reason viewers dropped out.
“Netflix continues to produce and distribute,” he says, “some of the most explicit and sexually exploitative content we have ever seen – sexually exploiting children.”
Netflix witnessed a fierce public backlash in September 2020 over streaming the French film “Cuties,” which casts pre-teen girls in a sexually provocative script, and viewers responded with a fierce --- but reportedly short-lived --- cancellation of the streaming service.
Regarding the subscriber numbers, Winters says that “much-watched” count is what matters to investors who are gauging the company’s value since Netflix exists as a streaming service.
“That's the bellwether of how the company's performing,” he points out.
Winter adds that Netflix has staked out a far-left political stance and is “dismissive” of concerns voiced from the right.
The appearance of competing streaming services in recent years did not go unnoticed by Winter and PTC, and the group offers a downloadable guide for parents that can be read here.
