Netflix Fired Its Tudum’s Employees Just 5 Months After Launch

Last updated on May 2nd, 2022 at 09:02 am

The Workers at Netflix’s Tudum fan website were laid off on Thursday, within just five months after the streaming giant launched the site and only a week after the streaming provider disclosed its huge subscribers loss this decade.

The reduction in viewers has shaken Hollywood’s conviction in streaming as a potential growth engine, putting the spotlight on Netflix for any indication of frailty.

Netflix Layoffs Hit Tudum

Netflix has remained tight-lipped about the size of the job cuts. “Fan website Tudum is an important priority for the company.” it said in a statement.

Five employees tweeted about being laid off on Thursday, among other tweets by other fired writers & editors.

The reductions appear to be minimal in comparison to Netflix’s overall personnel and appear to be confined to the Tudum business. At the end of last year, Netflix had 11,300 employees.

Launch of Netflix’s Fandom Website – Tudum

Tudum was launched in December as Netflix’s “official companion site.” It was announced by Netflix’s former marketing boss Bozoma Saint John, who departed the business in March, as a resource for news on Netflix episodes and movies, as well as fan-focused pieces delving deeper into Netflix programming.

Netflix’s Streaming Business

Until this week, Netflix’s unstoppable rise had prompted all of Hollywood’s big media corporations to invest billions in their own streaming businesses.

These “streaming wars” spawned a slew of digital programs, namely Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Peacock, and Paramount Plus, to name a few.

The difficult shift to streaming has significant ramifications for Hollywood’s future, but it also complicates the number of services you must use and pay for to stream your favorite series and movies online.

Netflix’s Huge Subscriber Loss

Netflix announced last week that in the first quarter of this year, its member base decreased by 200,000 accounts. It was Netflix’s first overall membership loss in ten years, dating back to when DVDs-by-mail were still a significant part of the company’s operation.

While the loss was primarily due to Netflix’s withdrawal from Russia following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the company stated that it expected to lose another 2 million customers by the end of June.