Netflix Still on the Rise, Despite Everything

The most popular streaming service adds a few more million subscribers, but can it keep doing it in 2022?

Netflix expanded its reach for yet another year, but the service will probably not have an easy time repeating that in the years to come. Unless… (Image: Dima Solomin, Unsplash)

The term “too big to fail” has historically referred to financial institutions, but it seems like Netflix is keen on proving that it could also apply to certain… entertainment institutions, maybe? The company announced its earnings for the last quarter of last year (as well as for 2021 overall) and while the information in its report is not all positive, it’s not all doom and gloom either. In short: Netflix is still expanding its userbase but how much longer it can do that for, well, remains to be seen. What the company plans to do when it hits that wall, even more so.

First, numbers: Netflix managed to add no less than 18 million new subscribers globally during 2021, which is a far cry from the 37 million added during 2020. By looking at what’s also happening in the Disney Plus camp, though, it’s obvious that the pandemic boom is indeed over for entertainment subscription services. Those will have to make do with slower growth now. Of those 18 million new Netflix subscribers for 2021, about 8.3 million were added during last year’s Q4 — quite close to, but not on target with the 8.5 million subscribers Netflix and Wall Street expected (hence the latter’s negative…