Netflix added nearly 19 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, reaching 301.6 million globally, thanks to a wave of high-impact programming in the final weeks of 2024.
The tally, a company record for the biggest subscriber jump in a quarter, far surpassed the consensus expectation of Wall Street analysts for 9.8 million subscriber additions. Shares in Netflix surged more than 10% in after-hours trading on the results.
This is the last quarter when the streaming leader plans to report subscriber numbers on a regular tempo, shifting its emphasis to revenue and operating margin along with audience metrics like engagement.
The Street was looking for revenue of $10.1 billion and earnings per share of $4.21. Netflix exceeded both goals, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $10.247 billion.
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The quarter, which ended Dec. 31, featured the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson boxing spectacle, two NFL games as well as series premieres like Squid Game‘s second season and film debuts like that of action thriller Carry-On. Nielsen’s monthly snapshot of viewing for December, released earlier Tuesday, showed Netflix equaled a company high with 8.5% share of the total audience watching a TV set.
“Our Q4 slate outperformed even our high expectations,” the company said in its quarterly letter to shareholders. Squid Game Season 2 is on track to become one of our most watched original series seasons, Carry-On joined our all-time Top 10 films list, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight became the most-streamed sporting event ever and on Christmas Day we delivered the two most-streamed NFL games in history.”
Addressing the outlook for 2025 and beyond, the company returned to a consistent talking point, noting that it accounts for no more than 10% of total TV time in any of the markets where it operates. That means there is room for growth, even though the service has started to plateau in some territories.
“Our business remains intensely competitive with many formidable competitors across traditional entertainment and big tech,” the letter noted. “We’re fortunate that we don’t have distractions like managing declining linear networks and, with our focus and continued investment, we have good and improving product/market fit around the world.”
The subscriber tally of 301.6 million, Netflix said, does not include “extra member” accounts activated via paid password sharing, which has been the company’s strategy over the past two years. Along with launching an ad-supported tier, the company has stopped allowing customers to share passwords for free. That puts the total audience for Netflix globally at 700 million, the company maintains.
The Netflix results sound the opening bell for a month-long series of earnings reports by major tech and media players. After a rocky 2024 for legacy companies, there will be a bright spotlight on Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global and other media majors, with tech CEOs also under scrutiny after gathering en masse for President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Shares in Netflix have surged almost 80% over the past year, with much of the skepticism that exists around the company’s outlook centering on a valuation that some believe has gotten disconnected from its fundamentals.
MORE to come …