Final answer:
After a substantial price increase, Netflix's U.S. subscribers dropped from 24.6 million to 23.79 million but climbed back to 36 million by June 2013. Growth rate per quarter averaged 1.6 million post-price increase, slower than the previous 2 million per quarter increase. Netflix's expectation of the price increase's impact on attracting new customers was an additional 1.29 million subs in Q3 2011.
Step-by-step explanation:
The number of Netflix subscribers has shown fluctuations over the years, particularly in response to a price increase. Prior to the price increase, Netflix had approximately 24.6 million U.S. subscribers. However, this figure dropped to 23.79 million after 810,000 subscribers canceled their memberships due to dissatisfaction with the price hike. Despite this setback, by June 2013, Netflix had recovered and grown to 36 million streaming subscribers in the United States. This represents an increase of 11.4 million subscribers since the price increase, averaging a growth of approximately 1.6 million per quarter. Though this per quarter growth was substantial, it was still less than the 2 million per quarter growth experienced before, specifically in the fourth quarter of 2010 and the first quarter of 2011.
Netflix officials initially believed the price increase wouldn't significantly impede new customer acquisition. They expected to add up to 1.29 million new subscribers in the third quarter of 2011, reflecting a slower growth rate than previously seen.