Fans were furious when the Love is Blind season 4 live reunion turned out to be not so live, and Netflix’s stock is reflecting their displeasure. After airing one of the best seasons yet of Love is Blind, Netflix announced that the season 4 reunion would be aired live—a first for the streaming service. However, when it came time for the reunion to start, viewers who tuned in were treated to blank screens. It took over an hour for Netflix to apologize to viewers and admit defeat, revealing that the reunion started taping and would air soon, but not live. The streaming service was eviscerated on social media, with fans posting a flood of memes and criticism.
Unfortunately for Netflix, their Love is Blind live show failure seems to be having monetary consequences. According to Daily Mail, the day after the reunion fiasco, Netflix stock dropped by as much as 2.4% throughout the day. While the company’s stock rose a bit by market close, shares were still down overall by 1.75%. It may not sound like much, but that stock dip represents a loss of about 2 billion dollars. It’s hard to believe that Netflix’s dropping stock price the day after its Love is Blind season 4 live reunion failure is just a coincidence, and it seems that many viewers were so furious at the streaming service, that they decided to cancel their Netflix subscription.
The Love Is Blind Reunion Isn’t All That Infuriated Netflix Subscribers
For a lot of viewers, the failed reunion may have simply been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Earlier this year, Netflix announced that it would be cracking down on password sharing, which proved to be an extremely unpopular decision. Dissatisfaction had already been brewing among subscribers, and for subscribers who are fans of Love is Blind, the reunion disaster was just one more way that Netflix let them down. Despite Love is Blind season 4 being enormously popular, the failure of the reunion capped off the season, and it appears to have left a bad taste in viewers’ mouths.
When Netflix first announced that the reunion would air live, there was a lot of anticipation for the end-of-season special. A common criticism of Love is Blind is that the edit is heavily manipulated to create the illusion of drama that isn’t actually there. With a live reunion, there’s no way to edit the footage to create a false narrative, and it’s the most certain viewers can be that they’re getting the full story. So the fact that the live reunion never aired live was a massive disappointment. With Netflix already disappointing its subscribers, the reunion fiasco was the impetus many viewers needed to cancel their subscriptions for good.
Clearly, in this instance, Netflix’s reach exceeded its grasp. The streaming service hasn’t revealed what the technical issues were that prevented the Love is Blind live stream, and it’s anyone’s guess why this happened. However, in the future, Netflix should be sure that it can deliver on its promises before teasing juicy live content to viewers.
Source: Daily Mail/Tilly Armstrong, Netflix/Twitter
