Industry News

Has ‘Squid Game’ singlehandedly saved Netflix? It’s complicated

19 October, 2021

As the streaming skirmishes slowly approach full blown battle and the fight for our hard-earned subscriber dollars becomes increasingly more challenging, the market-leading Netflix is doing whatever it takes to maintain its top position. But after a pandemic-aided 2020 in which the company added a record 37 million new subscribers, the production shutdowns and streaming fatigue finally caught up to Netflix this year. The streamer endured a mixed Q2 2021 in which it actually lost 430,000 subscribers in the UCAN (U.S. and Canada) market, and its earnings per share of $2.97 was a big miss from the estimate of $3.16. Meanwhile, Disney+ continues to thrive, HBO Max is growing steadily, Amazon Prime Video is priming customers for major upcoming releases, and Apple TV+ is playing an effective long game.

So has Netflix fully rebounded on the back of the record breaking South Korean hit Squid Game, or is it facing yet another downhill tumble at the worst possible moment?

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