Netflix is in demand again: After a significant decline in user numbers at the beginning of the year, the streaming pioneer is now selling significantly more subscriptions than expected. However, the attractive program also costs the company quite a bit.
Netflix did much better than expected in the third quarter thanks to hit series like "Stranger Things" and "Dahmer: Monster." In the quarter to the end of September, the streaming giant booked a total of 2.4 million new paid subscriptions, as it announced after the US stock market closed. Netflix thus achieved user growth of 4.5 percent year-on-year and significantly exceeded both its own forecast of one million new customers and that of the financial market. The stock initially reacted after the trading session with a jump in price of more than 10 percent.
At the end of the quarter, Netflix had a total of over 223 million user accounts worldwide. The company expects to add another 4.5 million customers by the turn of the year. Netflix has thus initially stopped the negative trend of the first six months of 2022, when the number of users fell for two quarters in a row. However, the streaming provider, which is under strong competitive pressure from rivals such as Disney, Hulu and HBO, is not yet able to match the growth of the past - in the final quarter of 2021, Netflix had recorded 8.3 million new users.
In order to assert itself in the fierce competition of video services, Netflix is also spending a lot of money. Net profit fell in the most recent quarter compared to the same period last year by around 3.5 percent to 1.40 billion dollars (1.42 billion euros). In the current quarter, the company even only expects earnings of 163 million dollars. At least the investments seem to be paying off. Not only the number of users and the business outlook surprised positively, Netflix also exceeded market expectations in terms of sales with growth of 6 percent to 7.9 billion dollars.
