Netflix continues to grow unabated with its crackdown on password-free users – and is confident it can implement further price increases in the future. In the past quarter, 9.33 million subscribers were added. The market leader in video streaming has so far exceeded analysts’ expectations, who had expected an average increase of around 4.9 million customers.
The uninterrupted flow of users puts Netflix in a strong position, while competing offerings such as Disney+ or Paramount+ compete for profitability. At the same time, Netflix wants to continue producing many films – and is also open to sports deals at a reasonable price. “We are not against sports, but for profitable growth,” said co-CEO Ted Sarandos on Thursday after the presentation of the quarterly figures. Opportunities will be exploited in more and more areas, but with cost discipline. At the same time, Sarandos rejected a media report that Netflix wanted to curb expensive film productions. You don’t want to make fewer films, but better ones.
Netflix still has many opportunities to make the service more attractive – “and then ask people to pay a little more money,” said second co-CEO Greg Peters. Netflix also raised its rates in Germany last week, following price increases in other countries. The most expensive ‘Premium’ subscription with 4K image quality and 3D sound now costs 19.99 euros instead of 17.99 euros. On the other hand, the price of the subscription with advertising remains unchanged at 4.99 euros per month. In the US, the ‘Premium’ subscription costs $22.99 (21.5 euros).
Nearly 270 million subscription customers
Netflix now has 269.6 million paying customers worldwide. From next year, the service will no longer provide information about the current number of subscribers every quarter. For market observers, this has so far been a key indicator of competition with other streaming providers. Netflix shares fell 4.76 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday.
Netflix states that pure customer numbers are no longer as meaningful as they used to be given the different subscription models. Instead, they want to provide information about the financial situation with turnover and profit, but also about the popularity of individual series and films.
At the same time, the agency indicated that growth would continue. For the current quarter, the service expects slightly weaker customer growth, but revenue growth of about 16 percent year-over-year. In the past quarter, turnover increased by about 15 percent to 9.37 billion dollars (8.8 billion euros). Quarterly profit rose to $2.33 billion from $1.3 billion a year ago.
The growth is driven by the popularity of Netflix series and films. In the coming months, the service wants to score points with, among other things, a new season of the series ‘Bridgerton’ and a new ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ film with the return of Eddie Murphy in his starring role.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
