Two left-leaning streaming platforms were in the news this week for all the wrong reasons.
After reports surfaced that CNN+ got off to a rockier start than anticipated, Netflix confirmed that it had lost subscribers for the first time in roughly a decade during the first quarter of this year.
For her part, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) wasted no time sounding off on the fate of these two media companies.
Netflix is projected to LOSE 2 million subscribers & CNN+ can't even reach 200,000.
The correlation between companies going woke & then broke is a new law of physics at this point.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) April 20, 2022
Of course, Netflix officials sought to downplay its troubling trend by blaming everybody but themselves.
According to NPR:
Netflix has lost 200,000 U.S. subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, marking its first drop in customers in more than a decade, the company announced Tuesday.
It attributed the losses to factors such as stronger competition, the Ukraine-Russia conflict and password sharing.
In a letter to shareholders, the entertainment company said it relied on password sharing within households to fuel growth early on, but that in addition to its 222 million paying subscribers, there are now an estimated 100 million households using someone else’s account.
“We’ve always tried to make sharing within a member’s household easy, with features like profiles and multiple streams,” Netflix said in its statement. “While these have been very popular, they’ve created confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared with other households.”
Boebert was not alone in suggesting that the so-called “woke” culture at Netflix and CNN+ contributed to their respective struggles.
The woke mind virus is making Netflix unwatchable
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2022
CNN goes into FULL panic mode as they find out Americans don't want to PAY for Fake News— CNN+ is DONE. pic.twitter.com/xY2KTLwfBM
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 20, 2022
BREAKING REPORT: Go Woke, Go Broke – Netflix lost 200,000 global subscribers and could lose 2.5 MILLION this spring..
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) April 19, 2022
Things could be worse for CNN+ than they are for Netflix.
As Axios reported:
Warner Bros. Discovery has suspended all external marketing spend for CNN+ and has laid off CNN’s longtime chief financial officer as it weighs what to do with the subscription streaming service moving forward, five sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: Inside CNN, executives think the launch has been successful. Discovery executives disagree.
CNN+ has roughly 150,000 subscribers so far.
Warner Bros. Discovery wants to eventually build one giant service around HBO Max.
New leadership has replaced CNN CFO Brad Ferrer with Neil Chugani, Discovery’s current CFO for streaming and international, as part of a broader finance team restructuring.
Other high-level positions at WarnerMedia across different business functions are likely to be eliminated to cut costs and streamline leadership in coming weeks.
Boebert has been a vocal critic of leftist causes since entering Congress.
The lawmaker even interrupted Joe Biden’s State of the Union address by heckling his administration.
Do you agree with Boebert’s assessment of Netflix and CNN+?
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