Netflix recovered in the third quarter from its latest dips in subscribers and surprised the markets by capturing 2.4 million users, more than double what was expected -1.07 million-, according to the results presented this Tuesday. This compensates for the loss of 1.2 million customers in the first half.
As for the big figures, in the third quarter it earned 1,398 million dollars (1,419 million euros), 3.5% less than a year ago, while revenues amounted to 7,926 million dollars (8,047 million euros) , 5.9% more
Investors welcomed the accounts and the platform's shares soared about 15% after the close of the American market.
"Thank God the quarters of falls are over, we are back on positive ground," said Reed Hastings, co-founder of the Californian group. "We must continue this momentum," he added. The pull of Stranger Things and Cobra Kai, the documentary about the murderer Jeffrey Dahmer or The Sandman boosted viewings, it is explained.
Looking to the end of the year, Netflix is positive and expects to add another 4.5 million subscribers between October and December. After a drop in the first half that was blamed on shared accounts, the company is launching new options this November that include displaying content with advertising in exchange for paying a lower fee. This formula should be "a game changer in its expansion," said Third Bridge analyst Jamie Lumley.
At the moment it has 223.09 million subscribers, 9.5 million more than a year ago and a historical record. Most of those new subscribers came from Asia and the Pacific, with 1.4 million. In the United States and Canada, the platform gained 110,000 new subscribers, while in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 560,000 people were added.
The company also announced that it is considering launching a cloud gaming platform to diversify revenue.
"Although Netflix is not growing at the same rate as a few years ago, it is once again on a positive path. The forecasts for the fourth quarter have not been a success (it expects to earn 163 million, almost a quarter of what it did a year ago as it is when it invests the most in marketing and content), which shows that not everything will be rosy in the future," warns Josh Gilbert of eToro in any case.
The multinational has warned of the adverse impact of the dollar exchange rate, which has strengthened against most currencies at a "historic" rate, for which it estimates that this appreciation will subtract around 1,000 million dollars (1,015 million euros ) of revenue for the year as a whole. This is because when you repatriate income from other markets -in euros, in pounds...- you will receive fewer dollars when making the change.
Another point is that it will increasingly focus on revenue as the main metric, rather than subscribers. In this way, starting with the results of the fourth quarter of 2022, in January 2023, it will stop making subscriber forecasts.
