Netflix increases subscriber count by 2.41 million, surpassing expectations

This quarter is looking good for Netflix. The streamer added 2.41 million subscribers, bringing the total to 223.09 million. Netflix expected net gains of 1 million subscribers in the third quarter, so today’s results far exceeded its own and analysts’ expectations.

The company reported revenue of $7.93 billion for the third quarter of 2022, while analysts had forecast $7.85 billion. This will be Netflix’s first increase in a long time, particularly in its US and Canadian subscriber base.

The company reported an increase of 104,000 subscribers in the region, bringing the new total to 73.4 million. The last time Netflix saw subscriber growth in the US and Canada was in the fourth quarter of 2021. The company expects 4.

5 million net paid additions in Q4 2022. Netflix had two very dismal quarters in the last few months, losing a total of 1.2 million subscribers worldwide. There have also been a significant number of layoffs, including the recent downsizing of the animation department. However, with the addition of its new ad-supported tier to the platform in November, the company has potentially opened itself up to new customers looking for a cheaper way to stream.

“So far, the response from advertisers has been extremely positive and we believe that greater variety, particularly for more price-conscious consumers, will translate to significant additional revenue and operating profits over time. However, it is still very early days, and as we keeping our existing plans ad-free, it will take time to build our member base and associated ad revenue,” Netflix added.

Netflix announced last week that the basic plan with ads would cost $6.99 per month and will feature four to five minutes of advertising per hour for TV shows and films, and will launch a month earlier than competitor Disney+’s ad-supported tier, which will cost $7.99 per month.

Today, investors also learned how the company intends to monetize password sharing on the platform. Netflix said it will start charging a fee from account members who want to create sub-accounts for account borrowers starting in early 2023. This “additional members” feature was first tested in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru.

Netflix yesterday introduced a profile transfer feature to make it easy for account members to switch to their own separate accounts without losing personalized recommendations, viewing history, and other personalized settings.