Netflix Users Leave Due To Price Increases, Declining Quality: Survey

LOS GATOS, CA — In the first three months of 2022, 200,000 subscribers left streaming giant Netflix, signaling potentially major changes in the rapidly growing and shifting streaming industry.

GetWindStream, a kinetic internet company, surveyed 1,000 internet users (both current and former Netflix subscribers), and found that most users say they left Netflix either due to increased prices, or because they felt its content quality had declined.

39% of respondents said they left Netflix due to its price increases, which the company instituted partly to make up for the decline in subscribers. In March, Netflix raised the price of its premium plan (4K image quality, up to four screens) to $19.99, from $18. In 2015, premium cost just $12 a month. The basic plan (no HD, 1 screen) has risen from $8 a month in 2015 to $9.99 a month in 2022. Only 9% of respondents said they were willing to pay more than $20 a month for a single streaming service.

Meanwhile, 35% said they felt the quality of the content was declining. 17% of respondents said that they left because they felt other services had better content. 35% chose Hulu, 22% signed up for Amazon Prime, and 11% signed up for HBO Max.

73% of respondents said they submitted to various streaming services just to watch a single show, and 60% of viewers said that a new season of “Stranger Things” would be enough to get them to renew their subscription. “Stranger Things,” a wildly popular and acclaimed pastiche of 80s horror, was the only show over half of respondents said would bring them back, but others came close:

• “Squid Game” - 45%
• “You” - 34%
• “The Witcher” - 33%
• “Bridgerton” - 30%

Most respondents said they would continue to subscribe to Netflix if it forbids the common practice of password sharing. Only 13% said they used someone else’s login information.

• 27% said that’s a fair practice, and they don’t like “moochers.”
• 27% said yes, and they already pay for their own account
• 20% said yes, if they lower their prices
• 20% said no, because they find sharing passwords important
• 6% said no, because paying for their own account is not worth it