Enjoy this quarterly update of subscribers while you can, because it is the last time Netflix plans to share one.
Netflix ended 2024 with a whopping 302 million global paid subscribers, an increase of about 19 million from the end of September. Media analysts expected the streamer to add 9 million (or so) subs during the period. It blew that number out of the water and had a record quarter.
Wall Street predicts Netflix’s fourth quarter earnings per share (EPS) would come in at $4.19 on $10.11 billion in revenue, according to consensus estimates. Netflix on Thursday beat those expectations, reporting earnings per share of $4.27 on $10.24 billion in revenue; net profit was $1.86 billion. It’s the first time Netflix has surpassed $10 billion in revenue in the streamer’s history.
As of October 17, 2024, Netflix expected fourth-quarter revenue of $10.13 billion and profit of $1.85 billion ($5.40 in EPS).
Netflix will share total subscriber updates when it passes key milestones, but quarterly subscriber updates, as well as average revenue per user, will not be included in its public earnings reports going forward. Surpassing 300 million subscribers globally certainly seems like a milestone.
The biggest highlights for Netflix in Q4 came in the last six days of the quarter. On December 25, 2024, Christmas Day, Netflix streamed its first two NFL games — complete with a halftime show from Beyoncé. The very next day, Netflix premiered the long-awaited second season of “Squid Game”, its single largest content in recorded history. On film page, Netflix had a hit with “Carry-On,” its Christmas thriller was released on December 13. It was the platform’s top movie every week until the end of the year (and then some).
Netflix financial hit of 2024 was undoubtedly its paid sharing program, colloquially called its crackdown on password sharing. With advertising off to a slow start, Netflix needed the newfound revenue provided in the form of add-on plans for former account users outside of the primary household. The enforcement also converted millions of password borrowers into account holders in their own right.
Netflix executives will follow up this afternoon’s earnings announcement with a video interview at 4:45 PM ET.
