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Influencers, content creators 'berate' Netflix's Streamfest event...
A video uploaded to Netflix's social platforms shows an emergency meeting in the Netflix's creators' room.
If Netflix is free for all for two days, then who will watch independent content creators on YouTube? This is the problem vexing content creators in the latest content piece uploaded to Netflix's social platforms.
The video shows an 'emergency meeting' in the Netflix creators' room and features prominent content creators that Netflix regularly collaborates wiht. This includes the likes of former AIB founder Tanmay Bhat, YouTuber Ashish Chanchalani, former filtercopy actors Ahsaas Channa and Aisha Ahmed and Kusha Kapila, among others.
The main point of discussion is that if Netflix allows two day free access, who will visit their channels and consume their content? On its Netflix, on its website, said, “That’s right, it’s time to cancel your plans and settle in to watch Netflix. We don’t need any payment details–just your love and undivided attention.”
Netflix had also launched an ad campaign featuring Bollywood celebrities Yami Gautam, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Anil Kapoor (all of whom have acted in Netflix Originals like 'Ginny Weds Sunny' and 'Sacred Games'.)
“… we think that giving everyone in a country access to Netflix for free for a weekend could be a great way to expose a bunch of new people to the amazing stories that we have, the service, how the service works, really create an event, and hopefully get a bunch of those folks to sign up. So, we're going to try that in India, and we'll see how that goes,” said Gregory K. Peters, Netflix’s COO and chief product officer.
This free weekend-long access comes at a time when Netflix’s subscription rate has dipped. It missed its subscription forecast of 2.5 million, and gained only 2.2 million new subscribers in Q3. It had added 10.1 million subscribers in Q2 and 15.8 million in Q1.
In India, Netflix faces stiff competition from not only international streaming platforms, like Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar, but also a slew of domestic players such as SonyLIV, Eros Now, ALTBalaji, Voot, ZEE5, MX Player, JioCinema, among others. Adding to this, there’s also a sense of streaming fatigue after all the highs OTT platforms enjoyed during the (COVID) lockdown months.