Netflix Blows Past Q4 Subscriber Targets, Topping 260M

Netflix added a far-better-than-expected 13 million subscribers to reach 260.3 million globally as of the end of 2023.

The company missed earnings per share forecasts and barely edged Wall Street expectations for total revenue as it faced tricky comparisons with the year-ago quarter and continued impact from a recent price increase.

Wall Street analysts had predicted the company would add between 8 million and 9 million subscribers in the period. Their consensus called for revenue of $8.71 billion and EPS of $2.20. The actual top- and bottom-line figures came in at $8.8 billion and $2.11, respectively.

Two of the company’s ongoing initiatives, advertising and paid password sharing, continued to yield results in the quarter. Last November, Netflix said its $7-a-month ad tier had generated 15 million monthly active users, rising to 23 million by this month, according to internal projections.

The quarter featured unanticipated dynamics due the SAG-AFTRA strike, which lingered into November. Netflix was by no means immune to the strike, but the walkout combined with the WGA strike earlier in the year to largely wipe out new programming for linear networks during a period when they have historically welcomed new shows and viewers. College and NFL football were Netflix’s main competition in the period, and the fourth quarter also saw the releases of popular original films like Leo and Leave the World Behind as well as third-party titles like No Hard Feelings and Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse. Top English-language series in the quarter included the final episodes of The Crown and All the Light We Cannot See.

The earnings news came on the same day of two other major developments for Netflix. The company announced it has acquired rights to Monday Night Raw and other WWE programming, marking a milestone in the shift of sports (or at least sports-adjacent fare) from linear TV to streaming. It also was able to claim the highest tally of overall Oscar nominations of any distributor for the fourth year of the past five, with 18.

Those highlights on Tuesday followed Monday’s news that film chief Scott Stuber plans to exit in March. The former longtime Universal exec built Netflix’s original effort after joining the company in 2017, but the elevation of Bela Bajaria last year to Chief Content Officer put a management layer between Stuber and Co-CEO Ted Sarandos.