Netflix Cancellations Nearly Tripled After Chairman Reed Hastings Endorsed Kamala Harris

The Netflix co-founder endorsed the vice president on July 23. The five-day period of July 25-29 saw Netflix churn increase by 2.7x.

Netflix chairman Reed Hastings believes Kamala Harris will be good for America — even if his support for her may not be good for Netflix.

Days after Hastings, the co-founder of Netflix and former co-CEO, endorsed Harris for president, Netflix had its most cancellations in a year, according to Antenna data. From July 25 through July 29, Netflix’s average daily cancels increased by 2.7x compared to the prior two weeks, the streaming-measurement company found. July 26 was Netflix’s biggest day for churn in the past year.

After July 29, Netflix’s churn levels returned back to normal and have not elevated since. All told, July’s churn of 2.8 percent was elevated versus both June (1.8 percent) and August (2.0 percent).

Bloomberg first reported the news of the temporary churn uptick.

Hastings’ support came via a post on X a bit after midnight on July 23. All Hastings tweeted was “Congrats to Kamala Harris — now it is time to win.” It didn’t take more than that for the cancellations to come pouring in.

Hastings did do more than tweet though. He later donated $7 million to a super PAC supporting Harris’ run for president, the Republican Accountability PAC. Hastings said it is the most he’s ever donated to a single candidate.

A spokesperson for Netflix did not immediately respond to IndieWire’s request for comment on the Antenna findings.

We suspect Netflix will be OK.

As of June 30, 2024, Netflix had 277.65 million global paid subscribers. These days, the streamer is making nearly $10 billion in revenue each quarter — with more than $2 billion in profit — and its stock price is over $700 per share. Netflix (NFLX on the NASDAQ) shares had fallen below $200 in 2022 after the company shocked the streaming world with back-to-back quarterly losses.

Coincidentally, September 30 is the final day of the third quarter of 2024, which we colloquially refer to as the summer quarter. Netflix will announce the results from July-September on Thursday, October 17, 2024 at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. Antenna plans to share its own September data on October 20, a spokesperson told IndieWire, give or take a few days.

Hastings, who stepped down in January, will watch from afar as co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Sarandos’ own co-CEO Greg Peters, the company’s CFO Spence Neumann, and its VP of Finance, IR & Corporate Development Spencer Wang present the Q3 results to shareholders and the greater stock market.

Netflix is far and away the most impactful streamer in the marketplace; Amazon’s Prime Video and the Disney Bundle are its only real competitors.

Election Day is November 5.