Netflix
9.3 million new customers after subscription suspension
The streaming service Netflix continues to grow strongly.
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Surprising business results at Netflix: The streaming service welcomed more than nine million new subscribers in the first quarter.
The global streaming service continues to enjoy unbridled growth. Like the company According to “Variety” magazine announced on Thursday, Netflix welcomed 9.3 million net new customers in the first quarter of 2024. Netflix now has 270 million subscribers worldwide. At the same time, the company announced that it would no longer report subscriber numbers from the first quarter of 2025. These have been considered an important key figure for streaming services for years.
Double surprise with the subscription numbers
With the current quarterly figures, Netflix exceeds many previous estimates twice. The company reacted rigorously to the declining numbers at the time in 2023 by stopping the sharing of passwords last year. In this way, free riders who had previously used Netflix on the accounts of friends and acquaintances were noticeably slowed down. But there was uncertainty in the industry about how this step would affect the numbers. Do the free riders drop out completely or get their own subscription?
As the quarterly figures now show, former third-party users have grown so fond of Netflix that they no longer want to go without it – and pay their subscription regularly. Other analysts had expected positive business development, but their estimates of 4.9 million new customers fell far short of the current figures.
No quarterly subscriber numbers from 2025
Despite the positive metrics, the company also announced on Thursday that it would change its information policy in the future. In its first-quarter letter to shareholders, Netflix said that so-called “engagement” – the amount of time spent using the service – was the “best indicator of customer satisfaction.” For this reason, Netflix will announce “key subscriber acquisition milestones” starting in the first quarter of 2025, but will no longer report quarterly membership numbers or average revenue per member (ARM).
With the fresh quarterly figures, the company also exceeded Wall Street’s expectations for its profit and loss statement. On the other hand, competitors such as Disney+ and Paramount+ are fighting for profitable metrics. Still, Netflix shares fell more than 4.5 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday. This is seen as the first reaction to the fact that the streamer no longer wants to publish subscriber numbers every quarter in the future.