810,000 customers flee Netflix after price hikes and DVD split

Poor Netflix. Things were going so well, until it decided to increase prices, anger the Internets by spinning its DVD-by-mail service into Qwikster and then changing its mind on the split a month later. Of course, 810,000 subscribers would leave.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings understands that we're all pissed. He says he let arrogance take over, and thought that we'd all get adjusted to the price hikes and DVD-by-mail split.

Hasting knows that after all the confusion, the Netflix brand lost a lot of credibility, that's why he's focusing on winning us back and it starts with "listening."

"Qwikster became the symbol of Netflix not listening. We quickly changed course on that, and we're going to stick with DVDs as part of the Netflix brand."

810,000 subscribers canceling their Netflix might seem like a lot, but as Netflix reported in its fourth quarter shareholder report, the loss is "relatively minor." Compared to Netflix's 21.4 million streaming subscriptions and 13.9 million DVD subscribers, Netflix isn't exactly looking unhealthy (and maybe that price hike will make up for the deserters), but there's definitely an issue of consumer confidence that needs to be addressed here.

Hopefully Netflix can turn things around and regain the 800,000+ customers it lost or at least hire someone to do a little research before trying to create a new brand *snicker*.


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