Netflix lifts subscribers, no plans for weekly episodes.
Netflix has reversed a subscriber drop off in latest earnings, and reaffirms its binge-friendly model.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Subscription
Netflix has reversed a two-quarter subscriber drop, lifting from 220.67 million global subscribers to 223.09 million.
The gain of 2.4 million subscribers more than doubled analysts’ consensus estimate of 1.09 million.
Revenue of $US7.926 billion and earnings per share of $3.10 exceeded forecasts for $US7.84b and $2.19, respectively.
Deadline reports the company in recent months has announced a freeze on content spending increases, laid off hundreds of staffers and, most notable of all, reversed a years-long stance on advertising. Netflix’s new, ad-supported tier, priced at $7 a month, go live in 12 markets in early November.
“After a challenging first half, we believe we’re on a path to reaccelerate growth,” the company said in its quarterly letter to shareholders.
Netflix also confirmed it has no plans to stop dropping all episodes of a TV show at once for binge-friendly viewing.
“We think our bingeable release model helps drive substantial engagement, especially for newer titles,” Netflix said. “This enables viewers to lose themselves in stories they love.”
“It’s hard to imagine, for example, how a Korean title like Squid Game would have become a mega hit globally without the momentum that came from people being able to binge it,” Netflix said in the shareholder letter. “We believe the ability for our members to immerse themselves in a story from start to finish increases their enjoyment but also their likelihood to tell their friends, which then means more people watch, join and stay with Netflix.”
Netflix does release some reality episodes, like Love Is Blind, The Circle and The Mole over several weeks. In addition, it has split apart the most recent seasons of high-profile titles like Stranger Things, Ozark and Money Heist to maximise viewer interest and engagement.
2 Responses
I have so many mixed thoughts on the binge model – when you’re invested in a show the ability to power through is compelling. But reality is that we’re in peak TV, with so many shows being released every week it’s hard to keep up and as a result the smaller titles just end up getting forgotten. They drop one week and by Week 3 or 4 they’re out of the conversation, they’re no longer being covered on TV News sites etc so you just forget about them.
I definitely prefer to enjoy a show over a period of time. I’m quite happy for streamer to give me 1 ep per week. If a whole series is dropped at once I will usually watch 2 to 3 eps per week to stretch out the sugar hit.