The streaming monarch is trimming parts of its domain.
Netflix is shedding about 1,000 workers鈥攁round 6% of its workforce鈥攊n its biggest layoff wave since 2022, affecting teams in product, technology, and human resources.
The cuts come as Netflix’s share price struggles, falling roughly 42% year鈥憈o鈥慸ate and about 25% in 2026. Themoneytimes’ Jame Faris outlined five key factors behind the company’s difficulties.
Investors remained uneasy despite the job cuts, with Netflix’s stock barely shifting鈥攗p 0.16% for the day. Themoneytimes’ Peter Kafka explains why reducing staff alone won’t fix Netflix’s deeper issues.
Netflix will release its quarterly earnings on Tuesday, yet its biggest hurdle is no secret: viewer engagement.
The service still boasts about 325 million paying members, a huge audience. However, investors are increasingly concerned about how long viewers stay engaged with its content.
Tensions peaked this summer during Netflix’s Q2 earnings release. After underwhelming results, Netflix announced it would stop publishing detailed viewership figures as frequently.
Withholding data from investors is rarely a positive sign. Critics argue that fixating on new releases overlooks the real driver of success: the long鈥憈ail popularity of older titles.
This still leaves the core threat untouched for Netflix and its competitors. Viewers now have a crowded field of alternatives, from TikTok and Instagram to YouTube and traditional broadcast TV.
The layoffs are not a sign of broader budget reductions.
A major growth push this year has been video podcasts, highlighted by a partnership with Spotify for hit shows such as “The Bill Simmons Podcast” and “The Rewatchables.”
Podcast fans are a committed crowd that regularly tunes in. Winning them over from rivals like YouTube鈥攚here many of these shows also appear鈥攚ould be a big win, though the experiment is still in its infancy.
Another engaged demographic is sports fans, a market Netflix has been aggressively courting. Early results looked promising, with the company noting last year that NFL deals and a Jake Paul fight boosted daily sign鈥憉ps.
Live sports are expensive, however. This season Netflix will air five NFL games under an expanded agreement that began in 2024 and runs through the 2029 campaign, timing that aligns with an opt鈥憃ut clause in the league’s larger CBS鈥慒ox pact.
To diversify, Netflix secured the exclusive broadcast rights to the 2030 World Cup in Spain and Andorra earlier this week. While the financial specifics were not revealed, a 104鈥慻ame package of that magnitude is unlikely to be inexpensive.
Pursuing viewer engagement, it seems, never gets cheaper.