Peak Netflix? What the streaming landscape will likely look like in the future

Netflix’s share price has tumbled after it announced it lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of the year and a media expert says we should expect to see the streaming landscape change significantly in coming years.

Netflix’s share price plummeted 25 per cent following the announcement, wiping around $55 billion from its value.

US media correspondent at the Financial Times, Anna Nicolaou, says the tone of the announcement was unfamiliar for investors.

“Anyone who’s been following Netflix as an investor over the last five or six years has seen they’ve always been super confident, they’ve pretty much always delivered really good results,” she told Ross and Russel.

“There have been a few blips or missteps but they’ve always recovered so I think the fact that this quarter was as bad and they’re expecting the next quarter to be equally bad, and they really didn’t sound confident for the first time … that’s kind of spooked the stock market.”

With the number of streaming services available growing rapidly in the past few years, consumers now have more choices than ever before. But Ms Nicolaou doesn’t expect the streaming landscape will always be so varied.

“The current system in place is not going to be the final iteration of it,” she said.

“I think in a weird way we’re moving back towards the old system of having commercials, and probably at some point some of these services will combine and then you’ll have to pay more but get more.”

Press PLAY below to hear more about the future of streaming