Netflix posts strong user growth thanks to "Stranger Things
Thanks to hit series like "Stranger Things," the streaming service Netflix again gained a lot of new customers in the third quarter. The bottom line is that the number of paid subscriptions rose by 6.8 million worldwide in the three months to the end of September.
Netflix thus fell short of its own forecast of seven million new users, but exceeded market expectations. In total, paid memberships amounted to just under 158 million at the end of the quarter, as the online video service announced on Wednesday after the close of the US stock exchange.
The development was well received by investors, with the share price rising by around eleven percent at times after trading hours. With 7.6 million new customers, Netflix is aiming for less growth in the current quarter than analysts had assumed, although the Christmas quarter is usually very strong.
Netflix is under pressure ahead of the launch of new streaming services from financially strong rivals Disney and Apple and had disappointed shareholders with relatively weak growth in the previous quarter. A decline in user numbers in the important US home market went down particularly badly at the time. However, things looked better again in the most recent quarter - 517,000 new subscribers were added in the US.
Sharp price increase
Overall, however, the U.S. market remains difficult for Netflix, with only 2.7 million new users subscribing to the service in the first nine months of the current year. A sharp price increase is likely to have played an important role in this. In the future, the company will no longer report its U.S. growth separately, but will bundle it together with the figures for the Canadian market.
Financially, however, things have been going well recently: profits climbed year-on-year from 403 million to 665 million dollars, significantly more than analysts had expected. Sales increased by a strong 31 percent to 5.2 billion dollars. However, in view of high production and marketing costs, the company expects a significantly lower surplus at the end of the year.
The fact that the streaming service was able to score with customers from the beginning of June to the end of September was not least thanks to "Stranger Things. With 64 million viewers in the first four weeks, it was the most successful season of the popular mystery series to date, according to Netflix. In the fourth quarter, Netflix is relying primarily on film productions such as Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman" with Hollywood stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.
The streaming market leader is demonstratively self-confident in the face of the attack by competitors Disney and Apple, whose video services start in November and cost significantly less than Netflix's subscriptions. The new offerings will make a lot of noise and may put some pressure on Netflix in the short term, according to the letter to shareholders. But no competitor has a comparable variety and quality, which is why Netflix will continue to grow. (SDA)
