During the second quarter, two of Netflix’s most popular original shows, Ozark and Stranger Things, released highly anticipated new seasons. Regarding the latter, the final two episodes of Stranger Things 4 started streaming on Netflix just a few days ago.

Despite this, the show racked up around 1.2 billion hours of watching time in the first 28 days following its May 27 release. As a result, Netflix is scrambling to launch an ad-supported membership tier and cracking down on Netflix password sharing. Meanwhile, experts predict that the subscriber decrease would be significant.

Indeed, the number of people quitting their Netflix subscriptions may be higher than previously reported.

Netflix still isn’t in the clear

If that seems strange during a quarter in which Netflix premiered two of its most anticipated seasons of TV to keep people bingeing, you’re not alone.

According to a Barclays prediction released on Wednesday, July 6, Netflix would lose 2.8 million members during the second quarter, rather than 2 million (for which the company will report earnings on July 19).

Kannan Venkateshwar, a Barclays analyst, appears to have based his projection in part on two factors. One is a decrease in Netflix app downloads.

And two, overall Netflix engagement statistics. Which, again, you may have anticipated skyrocketing during a quarter with a new Stranger Things season.

Quantity-vs-Quality

Furthermore, Venkateshwar brought up the quantity-vs-quality debate, which appears to be driving a lot of account cancellation behavior.

“In our opinion, Netflix may need to rebalance its content mix a bit more towards quality, especially given competitive offerings from Disney, Apple, HBO, and Amazon,” added the Barclays report.

For example, HBO will release a Game of Thrones prequel (House of the Dragon) in August. The Rings of Power, an Amazon Lord of the Rings series, will be released on September 2.

Netflix on the other hand has a $200 million dollar budget film, The Gray Man releasing this month. So for the streaming service, a lot will be riding on the film. Otherwise, it could prove to be an expensive miss.

What do you think is the main reason for Netflix’s subscriber downfall? Let us know your answers in the comments below.