Netflix had announced that they expected to lose 2 million subscriptions in the second quarter of this year. There was thus great relief in the market when the result was a loss of only 970,000. The power giant also said that they expected to increase the number of customers by around one million a year in the third quarter. The news caused the stock to skyrocket. Around 23, Norwegian time, the share is up approx. 7 percent, according to CNBC. The new season of “Stranger Things” has been among the highlights of Netflix in the last quarter. The series was also recently nominated for several Emmy Awards. Worse numbers expected – It all started in April when Netflix for the first time in a very long time experienced a decline in the number of subscribers. That’s what Terje Gaustad at BI Norwegian Business School says. The quotes were given before the last result was published. Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of this year, which led to the company falling in value. Because Netflix is the largest, the other streaming competitors also followed suit. He sees that the huge sums that have been invested in power services in recent years, are now about to stop a bit. Was this a rift in the power bubble? Investors have lost some faith in the electricity services, says Terje Gaustad at BI Norwegian Business School. Photo: Alexander Eriksson / BI Norwegian Business School – Yes, you can say that. The share value of Disney, Paramount, HBO owner Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix have all fallen by more than 25 percent since April, according to Bloomberg. – Investors have simply lost some faith. Previously, these companies were measured almost exclusively on growth in the number of subscribers – now investors are probably looking more at profits, Gaustad explains. But what does that mean for the Norwegian film and TV industry? Cuts in investments Drama director Ivar Køhn in the production company Rubicon also believes that the electricity market is about to flatten out a bit. Rubicon is behind the successes “Beforeigners” on HBO and “Lilyhammer” on Netflix. – I think we will probably see that the power services calm down a bit on the quantity, but not on the quality. We may get a few fewer but larger and better series, also from the Nordics, says Køhn. Drama director Ivar Køhn in Rubicon TV believes that the streaming services will now produce slightly fewer, but better, films and series. Photo: Julia Marie Naglestad / news Recently, it also became clear that HBO is cutting all its Nordic productions as a result of money savings. The owner company Warner Bros. Discovery has a total debt of around NOK 550 billion. – A little simplified, we can only say that the money is gone. If you go back more than six months in time, the value of these companies was more than twice as large as it is today, Gaustad points out at BI. – Working too fast At Sukkerbiten in Oslo, newly graduated actor Thomas Jensen Takyi is sitting with his friend Lene Marie Hegge, who goes on film and the TV line at Kristiania University College. The two work in their own way to enter the film and TV industry. Takyi in front of the camera, and Hegge in the back. In recent years, the streaming services have contributed to record high activity in the Norwegian drama industry. Then it is perhaps not so strange that both are optimistic about the industry’s future, despite the decline in power services. Thomas Jensen Takyi is a newly graduated actor and works actively to enter the drama industry. So does her friend Lene Marie Hegge, who would like to imagine a role behind the camera. Photo: Ine Julia Rojahn Schwebs / news – It still feels like a growing industry. There will always be a need for content for movies, commercials and series. I do not feel that it is a problem if you really want to and are on, says Hegge. – But a lot of quantities are produced, Takyi adds. – Good things take time. Quality takes time. I think some of the power services are now working too fast. Golden age a few years to Køhn in Rubicon also believes that Norwegian drama productions have gained an edge because we in Norway have been out in the electricity market early. This has meant that the Norwegian industry has built competence and made contacts in the international industry. – In that sense, I think that the Norwegian and Nordic industry is quite strong going forward. The drama director thus denies that the power bubble has burst. There have been several signs of changes in the electricity market recently. It recently became clear that HBO is closing down its Nordic productions. The audience favorite “Beforeigners” is currently not to be found on the streaming service, and it is uncertain whether, where and when it will reappear. Photo: HBO – I think the golden age will last for a few more years. Bad advice = more flow? In addition to the fact that the willingness to invest has slowed down, interest rates and prices have mostly risen throughout the world. This in turn means that people have less to deal with. But poorer advice in households can also lead to a small boost for streaming services, believes Gry Rustad, film and series researcher at the Norwegian Film School. – It can make people more at home and watch TV. For a family, it is cheaper to watch a movie together on a streaming service you already subscribe to than, for example, going to the cinema. Viewer-friendly blockbuster verification – Do you think investment brakes will make power services focus more on quality? – It is asked how to define quality. It has been seen that a number of streaming services, such as Amazon Prime, started by advertising that they had many critically acclaimed series in their catalog, says Rustad. But some of these series had few viewers, which has made Amazon turn in a more viewer-friendly direction with more blockbusters, she explains. Poorer advice among people can mean both more and less flow, believes film and series researcher Gry Rustad. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news – I do not say that it is worse, but there is a difference. It is the blockbusters that now largely run the power services. This is supported by the fact that “Stranger Things” was designated as Netflix’s rescue. Several sources have told Bloomberg that without the drama series it would have looked more gloomy for the streaming giant. – We can call it a blockbuster verification of the power services, says Rustad.
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Netflix numbers better than expected – shares rise – news Kultur og underholdning
