Netflix cuts 1,000 jobs as advertising revenue forecast drops
Netflix shed 1,000 employees—amounting to six percent of its global workforce—as third-quarter results revealed decelerating revenue growth and a downwardly revised advertising outlook, according to financial reports and regional coverage from SRF and FAZ.
Netflix Revenue Grows While Ad Forecast Drops
The streaming pioneer reported third-quarter revenue of $12.87 billion, marking an 11.8 percent increase compared to the same period in the prior year, as detailed by finanzen.ch. Earnings per share reached $0.87 for the quarter ending September 30, 2026, up from $0.59 a year earlier. Despite the revenue expansion, co-chief executive Greg Peters adjusted the company’s full-year advertising revenue forecast downward during the earnings call. Netflix now projects $2.7 billion in ad-supported revenue for 2026, falling short of earlier guidance targeting $3 billion. Peters attributed the reduction to delays in rolling out new advertising products. The company reported an 11.8 percent revenue growth year-over-year for the quarter ending in September and projected a slowdown to 11.5 percent for the final three months of the year, compared to 17.6 percent in the same period in 2025. It also noted that it makes billions in profits, with revenue alone growing by twelve percent to $12.9 billion in the last three months.
Market reaction to the financial disclosures proved immediate. The company’s stock fell on the Nasdaq exchange, hitting a 52-week low of $64.10 on October 22, 2026, down significantly from its 52-week high of $116.72 recorded on November 14, 2025. Financial institutions responded with cautious revisions. Wolfe Research downgraded Netflix from “Outperform” to “Peer Perform,” citing concerns that higher capital investments had failed to generate proportional gains in audience engagement, according to Börse Express. Needham similarly reduced its recommendation from “Buy” to “Hold.” The stock was among the losers on Friday afternoon, trading down on the Nasdaq.
Peter Rice Succeeds Bela Bajaria as Content Chief
Alongside the workforce reductions, Netflix executed high-level managerial changes. Bela Bajaria, chief content officer and a nearly ten-year veteran of the firm, departed alongside two other senior executives. Peter Rice, formerly of Fox and Disney, was appointed to succeed Bajaria. Co-chief executive Ted Sarandos defended the existing corporate strategy during the investor conference call, stating that he saw no reason for a fundamental change in direction, even as analysts questioned why content leadership took the fall while strategic oversight remained unchanged. The approach of co-chief chefs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters for a year marked by weak viewer numbers, a lack of zeitgeist-defining series, and a poor showing at American television’s Emmy Awards consisted of blaming their subordinates.
The management shuffle coincides with mounting scrutiny over viewer retention metrics. According to data cited by SRF, “Qualified Play Days”—tracking how often subscribers actively log into the service—have steadily declined. Nielsen figures highlighted by FAZ show Netflix’s share of US television viewing dropped from 8.8 percent to 7.8 percent in July compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, YouTube captured more than 14 percent of television viewing time in the domestic market, dominating the attention of younger demographics across both television and mobile devices. Last week, a thousand employees lost their jobs, representing six percent of the workforce.
Netflix Expands into Live Events to Counter Losses
Industry analysts continue to debate the wisdom of Netflix’s past maneuvers. The company’s unsuccessful pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery was characterized by market researchers as an unnecessary distraction from core operations. Many analysts viewed the interim takeover attempt as a sign of weakness, especially since the company had never previously engaged in major acquisitions.
To counter losses in audience share, Netflix is expanding into live events, sports broadcasts, and short-form video formats suited for mobile phones. However, researchers point out a fundamental divergence in consumer habits. As Maria Rua Agouti of Omdia observed in coverage by SRF, viewers spend substantial time on free platforms like YouTube while maintaining paid subscriptions for premium content libraries. Netflix management faces the task of proving that its recent cost-cutting initiatives and leadership changes can restore both double-digit growth and shareholder confidence ahead of the fourth-quarter financial reporting scheduled for January 26, 2027. Compared to Netflix, the Google-owned video service has the advantage of paying much less for its content. The company stated in its communication that it is aware of investors’ concerns regarding the growth of hours spent on Netflix. Wolfe Research raised the central question for evaluating the stock: Erzielt Netflix mit höheren Investitionen auch eine überzeugendere Bindung seines Publikums?