Did Netflix actually lose subscribers?

Or did they willingly cancel 700,000 Russian accounts?

Some reports are saying 1 million accounts were lost in Russia, Netflix used the number 700,000 in a letter to shareholders, so we can go with that.

In order to forcibly remove 700,000 users but only show a loss of 200,000, they would have needed to gain 900,000 users.

If they had not cut off Russia they would not have reported a loss.

But wait, they're expecting a loss of 2 million subscribers next quarter you say, well that would be roughly half a million down from the amount they lost in the last 5 quarters (2.5 million).

The next competition in streaming is Amazon, which has about 20 million fewer subscribers. And who also provides a streaming service packaged with Amazon Prime, so it's not really a fair comparison.

The rest of the competitors including Disney+ are 100-200 million subscribers behind.

And they estimate about 100 million accounts are being shared with additional households. So there are 100 million customers who are using the service without paying, and arrogantly believe it's their right too, so much so that they're offended at the idea that Netflix is going to offer a free tier with ads.

And there seems to be a sentiment that because you personally don't like the content they've been producing that they are producing content that nobody wants. Here's a list of their most-viewed original content. Netflix has nearly a decade's head-start on gathering user analytics. They are producing content that they know people will watch. Remember, the general public is not made up of refined connoisseurs of entertainment.

The only valid concern for Netflix at this point is their negative cash flow, but that's never been a problem before. They are committed to developing original programming. Original programming can be an asset that remains valuable essentially forever, just look at how popular “Friends”, “Seinfeld”, & “The Office” are decades after they were made.

And no other streaming services is as committed to stand-up comedy as Netflix, being a big comedy fan myself this is a big plus.

I can't help but get the feeling that everyone is completely overflowing Netflix's last report, and the information about Russia is being ignored because it doesn't serve the juicy headlines about Netflix ending their growth streak.

Disclosure: I do not currently hold any positions in Netflix.