Netflix has benefited greatly from the coronavirus lockdowns, with the service attracting upwards of 15 million new subscribers over the past three months.
If you’re anything like me, the coronavirus lockdown has been an apt time to whisk through a variety of things on your I-know-I-should-watch-this list. In my household, there’s been a lot of Explained, Wild Wild Country and the odd Grateful Dead or Miles Davis music doc.
I’m not alone, it seems. Netflix announced this week that its global subscriber base grew by 15.77 million over the last three months. That’s a serious boom, more than doubling the 7 million they expected to see. Not surprisingly, streaming figures have also swelled during this period.
Watch: Wild Wild Country | Official Trailer
The eight-episode true crime documentary, Tiger King, caught the attention of no fewer than 64 million subscribers. Reality TV dating show Love Is Blind has also been popular, capturing 30 million subscribers in the last three months. Meanwhile, a whopping 85 million subscribers have endured Netflix’s action original Spenser Confidential (starring Mark Wahlberg and Post Malone) since its release in March.
Watch: Spenser Confidential | Official Trailer
However, despite the huge three-month growth, Netflix is remaining circumspect. “In our 20+ year history, we have never seen a future more uncertain or unsettling,” the company said. “The coronavirus has reached every corner of the world and, in the absence of a widespread treatment or vaccine, no one knows how or when this terrible crisis will end.”
Netflix has continued to grow its original content over the past few years, but all productions have been on hold since March 13. They’ve still got a shit-ton of content to be rolled out over the coming months, but the company could face serious trouble if lockdowns sustain for another six to twelve months.
The news about Netflix’s subscriber surge comes just a couple of weeks after its new rival, Dinsey+, announced a 22 million spike in subscribers since early February.
