Netflix fires its editorial staff: Is the streaming giant falling apart?

One of the remaining users sits down to watch some Netflix shows
One of the remaining users sits down to watch some Netflix shows Copyright Canva
By Jonny Walfisz
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Netflix has suddenly fired many of the employees from its editorial platform Tudum. Only a week after it published disappointing subscriber numbers, is the streamer in dire trouble?

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Netflix has fired a large number of their employees suddenly, only a week after disappointing figures were announced in their subscriber growth.

All the employees were involved in their Tudum platform, a website with written content designed to promote the shows on Netflix.

Tudum is the name for the sound Netflix makes when it boots up. Netflix says they’re not getting rid of Tudum altogether, but the layoffs are apparently part of a broader restructuring of the company’s marketing department, according to a Bloomberg source.

Staff speak out

“Intriguing Netflix editorial strategy to hire some of the best entertainment/culture minds in the biz, very specifically court a ton of non-white women with the offer of a truly life-changing amount of money, only to shitcan everyone mere months later… god damn,” journalist Katy Way wrote on Twitter.

A lot of the fired employees also took to Twitter to voice their displeasure at the situation.

Author and journalist Evette Dionne was one of the people fired.

“Netflix recruited me seven months ago only to lay me and a bunch of other talented people off today. I’m going to take time off to just exist, so please get in touch if you’ll have editing and content strategy opportunities open after August,” she wrote.

“Uh oh! Looks like I have to do this tweet again. Is anyone hiring? Netflix just laid off my team (my job included). It was an incredible few months and I'm grateful for it but I'm stoked about whatever's next. Email is in bio,” Josh Terry wrote.

“So. I got laid off from Netflix/Tudum today. Media is gonna media even when it's not technically media, I guess,” Alex Zaragoza wrote.

“I have unfortunately also been ✨laid off✨ by netflix and am looking for writer/editor gigs: saradanielle@gmail.com ❤️ i’m a very nice girl who’s chill and fun to work with!!” wrote Sara David.

“Just got laid off from Netflix/Tudum, effective today. Email me with opportunities at reinasultan@gmail.com so I can pay my rent and help my parents survive! A bunch of my incredible colleagues got laid off, too. You’d be incredibly lucky to work with any of them,” Reina Sultan wrote.

Is Netflix in a tailspin?

All this bad news for the Tudum team comes a week after Netflix announced it had lost subscribers for the first time in a decade.

In the first quarter of this year, Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers. This is despite the $17 billion it put into original programming last year.

Numbers were at an all-time high during the lockdowns of the pandemic, with user figures reaching the giddy heights of 222 million.

Charles Sykes/2018 Invision
Bozoma Saint John, previous chief marketing officerCharles Sykes/2018 Invision

In response to the problematic figures, Netflix has already announced a crackdown on password sharing, which is believed to happen across 100 million households.

Netflix also expects another 2 million people to log off permanently by the end of July.

As some Twitter users pointed out, when Netflix hired the Tudum team in September 2021, its stock was trading at around €600 per share. This week it dipped under $200.

Chief marketing officer Bozoma Saint John also stepped down last month.

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It seems the future of the streaming giant is no longer as certain as it looked a few weeks ago.

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