Netflix Loses 39,451 Users As Banks Suspend Transaction On Naira Cards

Online streaming service company, Netflix, has said that it recorded a loss of 39,451 users in 40 days, due to the suspension of international transaction on Naira Cards by Nigerian commercial banks.

Recall that most Nigerian commercial banks have suspended international transactions on Naira cards.

For instance, Zenith Bank in a note to customers, said: “Dear Valued Customer, please be informed that you will be unable to use your Zenith Bank Naira cards for International Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cash withdrawals, PoS transactions and web transactions with effect from January 9th, 2023.

“If you have International spend requirements, simply visit any of our branches and request for a foreign currency debit or prepaid card, which are available in US Dollar, Pounds and Euro variants. Thank you for banking with us.”

This is coming barely a week after Guaranty Trust Bank made the same announcement, which took effect from January 1.

Also, e-commerce platforms, Flutterwave, Eversend, and other Fintechs had also stopped virtual card services for international transactions.

This announcement further compounds the troubles of many Nigerians who shop online from international stores such as Amazon, and Apple Music, among others, as they will no longer be able to pay with their Naira cards.

In a reply to a Freedom of Information (FoI) enquiry by an online news platform, News Point Nigeria on Tuesday, Netflix Nigeria subscription data revealed that over 39,000 subscribers didn’t renew their subscription over the last 40 days, dating from December 5, 2022 to January 15, 2023, although the information didn’t give a breakdown of their subscription plans, the figure, however, delineates an estimated loss of over N250m in revenue.

Netflix has over 500 Nollywood movies on its site and had produced or co-produced over 25 of such movies, the data revealed.

The online streaming service company is available in almost every country of the world, and its app or website runs on most of the devices that connect to the internet. Those apps are also some of the most easy-to-use of any service.

With this new development, however, Nigerians will now have to get a Dollar/Pound Cards before they can renew their subscriptions.