Netflix revenues hit record high amid BBC licence fee exodus

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/08/08/netflix-revenues-hit-record-high-amid-bbc-exodus/

by Skavau

30 comments

  1. The last time I watched the BBC, about 10 years ago, I counted 7 adverts between the news and match of the day.

    Every single one of them advertising BBC stuff. Advert Advert Advert Advert Advert Advert Advert.

    There is no way I’m going to pay the license fee AND be inundated with ads AND watch repeats of shit shows all day.

  2. “Bosses said the increase had been driven by a rise in subscriber numbers….”

    Well I’ll be damned. I thought it was because of the rise in subscription cancellations.

  3. I wouldn’t mind paying for BBC One and maybe BBC Two, but all the other junk, the nonsense radio channels and ridiculously overpaid presenters? No thank you. Especially not when the letters they send are so aggressive, it’s disgusting.

  4. The American domination of UK media grows ever closer.

  5. Why is this talking like you’re only supposed to pay for BBC?

    The utter bullshit rules of “having” to pay if you watch ANY live TV, on any channel, is utterly insane.

  6. I remember when Netflix clamped down on password sharing and all of Reddit was like im going to cancel now

    Never happened it seemed. Unsurprisingly

  7. I won’t pay a licence fee when the only valuable thing that results is radio 4. Aside from that it’s all just hacks like Kuenssberg platforming demagogues, and bosses who seem hellbent on slowing the flow of coverage of genocide.

  8. The sooner the licence fee is abolished the matter. How sending threatening letters once a month to people without a licence to bully them into paying it whether they watch TV or not should be illegal.

  9. Is there any reason why the bbc can’t just move to an ad supported streaming service already? It’s literally a no brainier

  10. I cancelled Netflix when they decided to introduce ads and increase fees. It’s enshitification and I won’t be a part of it.

    Sadly it seems the UK public as a whole is happy to pay more for less.

  11. Funny how everyone doesn’t want to pay for the TV licence, but is happy to pay for Netflix.

  12. Which is kinda crazy at £19/pm meanwhile BBC have effectively lost 25% of their funding from 10 years ago, and keep cutting content, and needing to partner with Neftlix/Disney to even make Doctor Who….

  13. I stg the streaming sites you can sail the high seas with are so good now. What is anyone doing paying for anything?

    They even have skip functions, auto play, reccomendations.

  14. I had my latest threatening letter from Crapita the other day telling them I needed to update them on my TV-watching habits, because I’ve not had a TV licence for years. They’re genuinely horrible. Aggressive, rude, nasty. It makes me never want to have a TV licence again. This isn’t so much to do with the BBC, but rather the awful company they choose to outsource their licensing to.

    I don’t subscribe to Netflix, or any other streaming service either. There are shows I enjoy from a range of production companies, but they’re all with different services. I don’t watch a huge amount of TV and it’s not cost effective to subscribe to them all, so what are you supposed to do?

    I’m not suggesting using naughty websites, but…

  15. I just refuse to pay for a TV license when 40% of the screentime is advertisements.

    That’s just not worth it.

    (Bar BBC)

  16. It’s simple.

    Scrap the licence.
    Create a subscription plan.
    Release a banging new series of sherlock.
    Profit.

  17. A TV licence is £14.50 and I barely if ever watch BBC. Netflix (for me) costs less than £10 and it has a bottomless pit of content. I’m sorry but forcing me to pay that much for BBC, which still also advertises, just doesn’t work brother. Either lock BBC behind a pay-wall or be transparent with it being taxpayer funded. Making me pay £14.50 a month just for watching TV is just hostile.

  18. I was quite pissed off with all the terrestrial channels programming ending up on Netflix, like what the hell am I paying for?

    Then I realised I can just pay Netflix still see all the BBC and channel 4 stuff and not have to pay a licence fee. Winning.

  19. BBC brainwashes so many people into thinking its low budget, overly politicised and crap television is world leading. Serious amounts people are genuinely brainwashed.

  20. I’ve found all these streaming services annoying tbh. I wonder what other alternatives are out there…

  21. I would pay the licence fee for bbc4 alone, if they continued to make good factual content and play for a day type stuff. Recently they seem to be using it to show reruns of blankety blank though, which is shite.

  22. Well Netflix seems to be bundled with a lot now so I’m
    Sure that helps boost figures

  23. I watch wwe and for once we get a far better deal on that than the Americans

    All three shows and all the main events on Netflix nice and easy whereas in America they’re looking at around $60 a month for the various channels

    I think their output has been better in the last few years too. They’re doing some great documentaries on there

  24. The litany of cancelled shows and continually increasing prices with a loss of quality is something Netflix and the BBC share, along with other broadcast stations with a significant reduction in viewers.

    When Netflix was a one stop shop for all streamng content it was a seriously good proposition. Unfortunately other companies didn’t fancy taking money from netflix to make shows like daredevil, and instead decided to make their own streaming platforms with a glut of failed shows and ever increasing costs.

    Until it’s all back under one roof with the economies of scale giving producers and directors the push to make good shows, rather than fund an entire platform, it’s back to the high seas.

    Yaar maytes, yarrr.

  25. Calling it the TV license doesn’t help. Should be Public Service Broadcast levy or some such. Seeing as it pays for the radio stations and such.

    Ofcom could also help by getting rid of the silly rule that BBC can only keep content up to a year. Was 30 days. But should be up to the BBC.

  26. Honestly. Charge for iplayer internationally. It’d pay for an awful lot.

  27. I have not been watching “live TV” for years. I only have Netflix and Prime, sometimes the occasional movie on Pluto or some other free platform, and barely have the time to watch something at all. It’s mostly for the children to watch something in the morning while I’m preparing their breakfast.

    Why should I pay for 400 channels of commercials-riddled rubbish and a TV licence on top?

  28. Beautiful. The licence fee is coming to an end and it cannot come soon enough!
    I chopped the Ariels from my house 15 years ago and have never looked back.

  30. I think what’s interesting about this, even as Netflix has enshittified over the years, their subscribers (at least according to the article…) are increasing, so they must be doing something right to attract such a demand.

    A lot of people got angry about their ad-infested cheaper tier, but I do wonder how well that is doing, £6 a month for the ad tier and £13 for the normal tier is quite a leap.

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