Business Lunch Netflix’s Downgrade and the Subscription Economy Apocalypse
23 snips
May 30, 2025 The podcast explores the evolving subscription economy and its current challenges. It highlights Netflix's stock downgrade and subscription fatigue among consumers. Discussion points include the importance of immediate value and reevaluating traditional models. Entrepreneurs learn how to interest customers with one-time offers before moving them to subscriptions. The idea of shadow subscription revenue emerges as a new strategy. Ultimately, the conversation focuses on adapting to changing consumer preferences for long-term success.
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Early Subscription Fatigue Anecdote
- Roland Frasier shared that subscription fatigue began hurting businesses around 2018, well before 2020.
- They tried a subscription model for digital marketer certifications in 2015 and nearly went out of business soon after.
Subscription Utility vs Nice-To-Have
- True subscription success requires your product to be a utility or critical infrastructure.
- Most consumer products are "nice to haves" and face significant subscription challenges.
Subscription Value Spectrum Shifts
- What counts as an essential subscription can shift dramatically with economic conditions.
- For example, certifications served as retention tools during the great resignation but became dispensable when the economy shifted.