Netflix Outdoes Expectations Again, Adding 8M Subscribers In Q2

Netflix added 8 million subscribers in the second quarter, delivering its latest upside surprise to Wall Street, though the company’s stock pulled back on weaker guidance for future revenue.

Revenue of $9.559 billion and earnings per share came in just ahead of Wall Street analysts’ consensus expectations. Subscriber additions nearly doubled estimates of a gain of 4.7 million, which would have represented a dip from the 5.9 million tacked on in Q2 of 2023.

The company said revenue would rise 14% in the third quarter ending September 30, with a lower rate of subscriber growth than the third quarter of 2023, which included the first full-quarter hit from paid password sharing. Average revenue per subscriber, meanwhile, will come in flat in the next quarter, due to what the company described as “ongoing F/X headwinds and plan and country mix.”

The results reflect another active stretch for the leader in the s reaming business. During the quarter, the company hosted its first upfront presentation for advertisers in New York and also planted a flag in live sports, announcing rights to Christmas Day NFL games starting this year. Its core business of delivering original series and films has also been on a steady track, highlighted by a third season for Bridgerton, which has quickly become one of the most-viewed titles in company history.

Historically, the second quarter has seen the least subscriber additions of any quarter, just given the traditional peak periods for programming. The latest numbers were not quite the blockbuster event of last quarter, when Netflix added more than 9 million subscribers to reach almost 270 million global customers. Even so, Netflix has continued to put its dark days of late-2021 and 2022 further into the rear-view mirror. The company’s stock price has surged almost 40% in 2024 to date, briefly reaching a nearly 3-year high north of $697 a share.

MORE to come …