Netflix Cancellations Skyrocketed After Founder Donated, Endorsed Harris

Netflix Cancellations Skyrocketed After Founder Donated, Endorsed Harris

Netflix cancellations went through the roof after co-founder and chairman Reed Hastings endorsed and donated to VP Kamala Harris.

The cancellations nearly tripled.

I’m sure that Netflix will be just fine, but since streaming services have hit a rough patch, they might not want to tick off any consumer.

From Bloomberg:

Customers in the US canceled Netflix at a higher rate in July — 2.8% — than any month since February. That is largely due to the company’s decision to phase out its basic tier. Basic was the cheapest advertising-free version of Netflix. But the five-day period after Hastings’ endorsement was unusual, even for July.

Hastings, a longtime Democratic donor, endorsed Harris in a post on the social media platform X on July 22. A day later, Hastings told The Information that he donated $7 million to a pro-Harris super PAC. Shortly after Hastings’ endorsement, fans of Donald Trump began urging people to drop the service. Some posted photos showing they had closed their accounts alongside the hashtag #CancelNetflix. Three days later after the donation became public, July 26, was the single worst day for Netflix cancellations this year.

Hastings has donated to Democrats in the past but hasn’t always been outspoken:

He wasn’t as outspoken about elections until more recently. But earlier this year, he was a vocal and public member of the chorus of celebrities and executives calling for Joe Biden to step out of the presidential race.

Netflix has always tried to keep Hastings’ donations and politics separate from its business. Eager to appeal to viewers of all persuasions all over the world, the company is sensitive to any perception that it’s politically biased. (Disney faces a similar conundrum.)

Like most companies in entertainment and Silicon Valley, Netflix’s employees lean to the left politically. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos is married to Nicole Avant, a former ambassador in the Obama administration. Sarandos and Avant are active in politics and were advocates for Rick Caruso in the Los Angeles mayoral race in 2022.

In June, stats showed that “YouTube made up nearly 10% of all viewership on connected and traditional TVs in the U.S. in May.”

That 10% is the “largest share of TV for a streaming platform ever reported by Nielsen’s monthly ‘The Gauge’ report.”

“We’re not talking about your mobile phone, your laptop, that I’m sure you see your kids using all the time, but on the biggest screen in the house, the TV,” LightShed media analyst Rich Greenfield told CNBC. “Every [media] executive has to be paying attention.”

YouTube is still on top as of August 2024.

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