The US giant of film and TV streaming continues on its growth path. In the last "beautiful" (as the company defined it) quarter of 2017, Netflix gained 8,3 million more users (of which 6,3 million are international), reaching a total of 117,6 million.
The result obtained far exceeded the expectations of analysts, who had pointed downwards considering the increase in the price of subscriptions decided by Netflix, the first necessary increase after more than two years. The growth in subscribers despite the price hike demonstrates how solid Netlifx has become by now. Expectations have also improved for the current quarter: almost 6,5 million new users against the 5 million expected.
No signs of yielding, therefore, after the announced future competition from the new giant born from merger of Disney and Fox. To date, users from all over the world, of the most diverse age groups, put Netflix in first place for the quality and variety of the service offered
On Wall Street, the stock immediately flew after yesterday evening's market: it gained 9% in just a few minutes, over 248 dollars, after finishing the session, ahead of the accounts, at new historic highs of 227 dollars. The shares of the company led by Reed Hastings they're up 21% in the last six months alone.
The company reported net earnings of $186 million, equal to a forecasted 41 cents per share. Overall, turnover in the quarter was 3,29 billion. In 2017, streaming revenue jumped 36% to 11,6 billion and 24 million new subscribers arrived.
The results show a charge of 39 million dollars for the content that the company has decided not to broadcast. The giant does not offer details but the figure could include costs related to "House of Cards”, the show engulfed by the Kevin Spacey harassment scandal.
Hastings said the recent performance highlights “greater-than-expected growth in users, driven by original content and continued global adoption of Internet entertainment,” from theinternet entertainment.
The founder indicated that the company intends to continue raising the bar with regard to investments in content that has often received awards from critics as well as the public: this year he plans to spend between 7,5 and 8 billion dollars versus six billion last year. The marketing budget also increased, from 1,3 to two billion.
It was undoubtedly, as far as TV series are concerned, the season of Stranger Things and Black Mirror, two Netflix products that reached viewers from all over the world. In recent months, the Spanish production series “Casa de Papel” has also been driving Netflix.
