Netflix added more paid subscribers than expected in the third quarter, boosted by the launch of new seasons of Stranger Things and 13 Reasons Why, sending its shares up 8 per cent in extended trading on Wednesday.
The streaming giant bounced back from a rare US subscriber loss last quarter with a strong content slate that included crime series Mindhunter, tech fantasy thriller Black Mirror and Spanish crime show La Casa de Papel (Money Heist).
The battle for eyeballs has streaming platforms spending heavily on new content with high-profile entrants like Apple, Walt Disney and AT&T's HBO Max announcing a slate of celebrity-studded new shows to topple
The streaming company added 6.77 million paid subscribers globally, compared with analysts’ estimates of 6.73 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Netflix’s subscriber addition of 520,000 in the United States, however, fell well below estimates of 802,524. For the current quarter, it expects to add 7.6 million subscribers, also below expectations of 9.4 million as the new entrants up the ante in the streaming war with programming featuring Hollywood’s top talent.
Looming competition has weighed on Netflix shares, which have fallen nearly 22 per cent since its last quarterly release in July.
Net income rose to $665 million (€603 million), or $1.47 cents per share, in the reported quarter from $403 million, or 89 cents per share, a year earlier. Total revenue rose to $5.25 billion from about $4 billion. Analysts on average had expected $5.52 billion. – Reuters
