Among Hollywood’s major studios, Netflix has been unique in its ability to maintain a strong market position throughout the post-pandemic era. In the early days of COVID, the streamer benefitted from the widespread closure of movie theatres to sign up a large number of new subscribers. After this sudden influx levelled off, the company continued to register new accounts by cracking down on password sharing among its viewers and introducing a less expensive ad-supported tier of service for budget-conscious consumers.
However, Netflix is finally facing a plateau in the pace of new signups and a reported decline in viewer engagement with its programs. The company’s stock price has declined by more than 50% in the last 12-months, prompting the company to look for new opportunities to restart growth.
The Wall Street Journal reported on some initiatives being considered, including bundle opportunities with the rival streaming service Peacock from NBCUniversal, which would allow Netflix to rebroadcast Peacock’s sport programming without having to acquire the licensing rights. Netflix heads are also exploring the option of adding a “live channel” to the platform, as they have done successfully in France with the French broadcast channel TF1. While Netflix Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters maintain that they do not want to enter a bidding war for sport leagues, they are open to bidding for specific sports events, having expressed interest in the World Cup games for 2030 and 2034.
These moves are in response to the platform’s decreased share of TV viewing and decline in viewer engagement. Bloomberg reported on a consistent pattern of declines in viewership for the second seasons of popular Netflix series like Beef, Running Point and Four Seasons. Many investors also perceived Netflix’s failed attempt to acquire Warner Bros. as a tell that the company felt that it was running out of ideas for generating growth from internal sources.
On the bright side, the rate of “churn” among Netflix subscribers remains the lowest of all major streaming platforms and its profits are continuing to grow, largely from the expansion of its ad-supported tier, which produced $3 billion in ad sales in 2025. But the image of irrepressible growth at Netflix has certainly changed, so we are expecting the company to pursue major new initiatives to reset that narrative.
