‘Cuties’ backlash led Netflix US cancellations to spike nearly eight-fold

A campaign had waged against Netflix over Cuties and now that the French film is up for streaming, it’s sexualised portrayal of children has led to a surge in US subscription cancellations over the weekend, according to YipitData, reported Variety.

The opting out of subscribers began September 10, the very day the film released on the streaming platform. The same day the hashtag “#CancelNetflix” started trending on Twitter. On Saturday, September 12, Netflix’s cancellation rate in the US jumped to nearly eight times higher than the average daily levels recorded in August 2020 — reaching a multiyear high, the data-analytics provider told Variety.

And the #CancelNetflix hashtag is continuinally trending on social media even now. At this rate, it is possible that an elevated churn could continue but it's unclear how big of an impact that will have on Netflix’s overall subscriber base. As of now, YipitData declined to provide estimates on the number of customers who canceled.

Customers regularly drop Netflix and other subscription services (a metric referred to as “churn rate”), and the YipitData numbers may ultimately reflect a short-term blip in US cancellations that is relatively minor in ther grander scheme of things.

By the end of June, the company has tallied 193 million paid streaming customers worldwide. That’s after Netflix netted about 25.9 million new subscribers worldwide in the first six months of 2020, with the coronavirus pandemic spurring record signups.

Speaking Monday on a panel hosted by French cinema promotional organisation UniFrance, Doucouré said that her film shows why it is necessary to create solutions addressing the “hyper-sexualization of children” that occurs via social media across the globe.

“We need to protect our children. What I want to is to open people’s eyes on this issue and try to fix it,” she said.

Regardless, the film has been among the top-watches on Netflix since its release, undoubtedly fueled by the controversy surrounding it. 

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