Will Netflix disrupt the entertainment industry again?

The news that the streaming giant will stop regularly reporting its subscriber numbers seems likely, at first glance, to upend established norms of data transparency in the SVOD business. If the champion of the streaming wars no longer feels the need to disclose its subscriber numbers, why would anyone want to reveal a relatively paltry user base?

But as much as rival streamers are eager to imitate Netflix, this is a move that legacy media players perhaps shouldn’t copy. Because while the strategy makes some sense for Netflix, it’s unlikely to benefit its main competitors.

Netflix is unique among major streamers in that subscriber counts still largely (but not entirely) determine stock price, with shares often rising and falling based on the platform’s quarterly replenishment figures. It’s perhaps ironic, then, that the Great Netflix Correction prompted Wall Street to take a closer look at the SVOD’s financials, when it was a reaction to subscriber counts, not financial metrics, that was driving the correction in the first place.