Netflix continues to grow unabated with its crackdown on password free riders – and is confident that it will be able to implement further price increases in the future. In the last quarter, 9.33 million subscribers were added. The video streaming market leader thus far exceeded the expectations of analysts, who had expected an average increase of around 4.9 million customers. The unbroken influx of users puts Netflix in a position of strength, while competing offerings such as Disney+ or Paramount+ are fighting 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 sport, but for profitable growth,” said co-chief executive Ted Sarandos after presenting quarterly figures on Thursday. Opportunities will be seized in more and more areas – but with cost discipline. At the same time, Sarandos rejected a media report that Netflix wanted to put the brakes on expensive film productions. You don’t want to make fewer films – but better ones. Netflix still has a lot of scope to make the service more attractive – “and then ask people to pay a little more money,” said second co-chief executive Greg Peters.
Last week, Netflix also increased its tariffs in Germany after price increases in other countries. The most expensive “Premium” subscription with 4K picture 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 USA, the “Premium” subscription costs $22.99. Netflix now has 269.6 million paying customers worldwide. From next year onwards, the service will no longer provide information about the current number of subscribers every quarter. For market observers, this has so far been an important indicator of competition with other streaming providers. Netflix shares fell 4.76 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday. Netflix argues that the 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 sales and profits as well as the popularity of individual series and films.
At the same time, the service signaled that growth would continue. For the current quarter, the service forecast somewhat weaker customer growth, but an increase in sales of around 16 percent year-on-year. In the last quarter, revenue rose by around 15 percent to $9.37 billion (8.8 billion euros). Quarterly profit jumped 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 to his star role.