the platform of stream Netflix, the industry leader that endured a bumpy 2022 with its first loss of new subscribers in more than a decade, continues its recovery to finish the year with 230.75 million subscribers and revenue above forecasts, the service announced Thursday night. at. with the series Wednesdaythe norwegian movie Troll and the sequel Glass Onion: A Mystery of the Bladesas well as the documentary series Harry and Megan fueling its growth warns it will tighten at the end of this quarter due to bill-sharing in more markets.
The presentation of the company’s quarterly results boosted the value of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange – although earnings per share fell short of what analysts had expected, according to Reuters. The investor briefing also confirmed that Reed Hastings, one of the company’s founders, became executive chairman of the board, making way for Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters as co-CEO of the platform.
In the last three months of 2022, Netflix has added 7.66 million subscribers, surpassing the stock market forecast of 4.5 million, and in its letter to investors, it congratulates itself on a “nicer end” to a “busy” year. In which it also laid off hundreds of people after seeing its value fall early this year.
The company’s two main avenues remain, as it announced months ago, the fight against misuse of account or password sharing, as well as the introduction of a new, cheaper form of subscription, including advertising.
The launch of this modality, in November and in 12 countries, was a success, says the company. “We believe that the lower price will incrementally drive subscription growth,” the document reads, noting that few people have moved from their current payment plan to the ad-supported modality.
“At the end of the first quarter, we hope to start rolling out bill-sharing payments more widely,” the letter to shareholders also says, specifying that more than 100 million homes are at stake and that this undermines Netflix’s future success. “While our terms and conditions limit Netflix use to one household, we recognize this is a change for members sharing their accounts more broadly.”
There are no details on which countries will start seeing these changes this year, but it is guaranteed that the measure, which will bring several additional payment options for subscribers who want to continue sharing accounts with people outside their homes, will cover “many countries”. . The experience gained in recent months in several Latin American countries (Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Argentina, El Salvador or Honduras) leads the Californian company to believe that after an initial break there will be new subscriptions or ways for viewers to can relate to the same with Netflix.
This decision will ultimately lead to new payment models and subscription forms, Greg Peters defended in the investor call that took place during the early hours of this Friday (Portuguese time). “Part [da decisão] it is driven by economic issues,” he admitted. “But part of that is what we call casual sharing, which is what people can afford but don’t need when they ‘borrow’ someone else’s account. Our role is to give them a push and make arrangements that make the switch to their own accounts easy and simple..”
As for the introduction of advertising which was anathema to Netflix’s discourse a year ago now it’s not just seen as a dead end to generate dividends and attract new consumers with lower prices but it seems like there’s a door opens wide. Not yet, but when asked if they could even have a 100% free version supported by ads, Ted Sarandos said “We’re open to all these different models” and that “they have this segment in their focus” . Not yet, but the fact that digital television is getting closer to traditional television already seems undeniable.
Netflix closed 2022 with more than $30 billion in revenue raised in more than 190 countries. He could boast of having premiered yet another handful of global and cross-generational hits, such as his most popular series ever, Stranger Things 4the third most popular series ever with Wednesday (based onTHE Addams family), his second most watched documentary series ever, Harry and MeganThe disaster movie of fantasy Troll as your most popular non-English film ever and Glass onionby Rian Johnson, as his fourth most popular film.
News corrected at 11:16 a.m.: Removed reference to the city of Cupertino; Updated Reed Hastings’ new job title
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