Netflix is slowly beginning to lose its dominance in the streaming world

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Netflix is still the king of all streaming platforms, but it is beginning to lose out on its market dominance, thanks to the introduction of new competitors. Services like Disney+, Paramount+, and HBO Max have emerged and are beginning to cut into Netflix’s market share, though it doesn’t look like the company is hurting too much.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Netflix’s share of global demand for original content is down to 50% for the first quarter of 2021, which is 4% lower than Q1 of 2020, and a full 15% lower than in 2019. This basically means that competitors have emerged with original content that is appealing to audiences and, in turn, pulls customers towards a different platform.

Additionally, the company has only reported an additional four million subscribers for the first quarter of 2021, which is down from the six million predicted. When compared to last year, these numbers are tiny next to the record-breaking 15 million new subscribers in the same time period last year. Of course, that was the beginning of the pandemic, and Netflix saw a total of almost 40 million new subscribers in 2020, which is a number that most likely won’t be reached again.

Even after all of this, the godfather of streaming platform is still doing okay. The company recently reached a huge milestone, where it will no longer be borrowing money to pay for exclusive content. This is pretty major, considering the multiple deals with major producers and directors, like Adam Sandler, and how expensive that all must be.

Sure, there are a lot of competitors emerging that are producing original content, but none of them are as established as Netflix. The fact that Netflix has become fully profitable is a huge step in an industry that relies heavily on investors throwing large sums of money at a company to get it started. If I had to guess, I’d say that Netflix is going to be okay.

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