Streaming giant has a 2.4% churn rate — which is twice as good as Hulu, its next closest competitor
Netflix subscribers are much less likely to ditch their service than customers who pay for other streaming services, new data from research firm Antenna shows.
Antenna found Netflix’s monthly churn rate was 2.4% by the end of Q1, which easily laps the field. Hulu, the next closest competitor, has a subscriber cancellation rate that’s more than double Netflix’s at 4.9% for Q1. And overall, the premium SVOD market (excluding Netflix and Hulu) has an average churn rate of 7%
Here’s a better look at the it, courtesy of Antenna:
As you probably noticed, Netflix’s churn rate isn’t increasing at the same rate as the rest of the industry, either. Netflix’s cancellation rate moved from 2.3% to 2.4% in the last two years, compared to the rest of the premium streaming market, which went from 5.3% to 7% during that same time.
Another feather in Netflix’s cap, according to Antenna: it does a better job of getting old subscribers to return to the service.
“[Netflix] leads the industry in ‘Resubscribe Rate,’ meaning that when they do lose a customer, they are more likely than competitors to win them back,” Antenna said in its Q1 2021 Growth Report. Antenna didn’t offer figures to show Netflix’s “Resubscribe Rate” compared to its competitors, though.
The new data comes after Netflix recently reported it added 4 million subscribers during the first quarter; that was 2 million less than the company (and Wall Street) had projected. Netflix’s stock has taken a bit of a hit since then, dropping from about $550 per share on April 20 to $513.47 per share on Friday. Overall, Netflix had 207.6 million subscribers at the end of Q1, which remains the most in the streaming world.
Sean Burch
Tech reporter • sean.burch@thewrap.com • @SeanB44