Fewer subscribers are using their Netflix accounts

A recent report from Bloomberg says that the amount of time customers spend watching the streamer has decreased.

By Jarrod Jones  |  October 27, 2026 | 1:51pm
Image: Netflix
Aux News Netflix
Fewer subscribers are using their Netflix accounts

Despite its best efforts to lure eyeballs to its platform with fare such as Ben Affleck’s Animals, its oh-no-Greta-Lee-is-stuck-in-a-house movie, its endless glut of gossipy celebrity profiles trussed up as documentaries, and Enola Holmes 3, fewer subscribers are using their Netflix accounts, per a new report from Bloomberg. Citing unnamed sources “familiar with the matter,” the business vertical reported that customers were less likely to open their Netflix apps “on as many days a month” as they were even a couple of years ago, based on the QPD (qualified play days) metric Netflix uses internally to measure user engagement. 

Yes, despite continued renewals for eclectic, original series such as The Diplomat and Lupin (both now in their fourth seasons), Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (now in season two), and the critical success of series such as East Of Eden, Bloomberg reports that the average customer simply isn’t watching Netflix as much as they used to. Strangely enough, the outlet notes an uptick in total time spent on the app by “a couple of percentage points” despite a decline in viewership, citing an increase in new subscribers—who, as veteran subscribers can affirm from experience, likely wound up spending too much time scrolling through Netflix’s catalog of titles before deciding to log off and go for a nice walk instead. Bloomberg also cited the mobile app tracking firm Apptopia, which reports dwindling engagement from subscribers, with the share of U.S. subscribers not opening their Netflix app rising “16.6% in the third quarter, compared with the prior year.”

This report is more bad news for a streamer already weathering a stormy 2026 after an enormous round of layoffs earlier this month, with executives and employees alike getting the axe during a company-wide reorganization. As part of this corporate scrambling, Netflix has reportedly increased its production budget and since expanded its media purview into podcasts and live sports, in hopes of bringing in even more new subscribers and, with some luck, shaking apathetic old subscribers out of their torpor long enough to watch some Netflix again. Say, who’s up for an episode or six of Is It Cake? Or the latest round of Raw?

 
Join the discussion...
Keep scrolling for more great stories.