Netflix estimated 2 million new subscribers this last quarter. The actual number: 3.2 million.
Better yet is the amount that Netflix was able to add to its market cap once this news was unveiled: $10 million. Looks like Netflix, which this year began rolling out a price hike of $10 from $8, is going strong.
The News
TechCrunch has both the actual numbers and the expected ones:
“Netflix added 3.2 million international subscribers, and 370,000 domestic subscribers. Total subscribers were up to 86.7 million. Wall Street was looking for the company to add 304,000 U.S. subscribers and around 2 million international subscribers. Analysts were looking for earnings of 6 cents per share on revenue of $2.28 billion.”
Previously, Netflix appeared to be reaching its limits, as subscribers had begun to slow.
Why?
The number of films and TV shows available on Netflix has dropped by half since 2012 — from around 11,000 shows to exactly 5,302. So why are consumers still drawn to the service? Because it produces original content now.
The streaming service still appears committed to becoming a content producer rather than just a provider of others’ content: A smart move, given that producers are beginning to charge more and more for streaming rights to their shows. As the company explained in a statement:
“Our over-performance against forecast was driven primarily by stronger than expected acquisition due to excitement around Netflix original content.”