Netflix Adds 5.9M Subscribers In Q2, More Than Doubling Expectations

Netflix’s New Pay-To-Share Password Setup: “We’re Seeing That It’s Working,” Co-CEO Greg Peters Says In Q2 Earnings Interview https://t.co/BtgxBP3eDE pic.twitter.com/OyljKC8s4s

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) July 19, 2023

It seems that the password sharing crackdown is working out for Netflix.

Analysts had projected the streamer gaining 1.769 million new subscribers in Q2. Netflix however smashed Wall Street’s expectations by instead rising to 238.39 million global subscribers in Q2 compared with its 232.5 million total in Q1. That growth marks an 8% year-over-year increase in subs.

Paid memberships rose by 1.17 million in the U.S. and Canada during the most recent quarter; by 2.43 million throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa; by 1.2 million in Latin America; and by 1.1 million in the Asia-Pacific region.

Netflix also confirmed it is eliminating its Basic plan, its cheapest streaming plan without ads, in the U.S. and U.K. in an attempt to boost customers on the ad-supported Standard With Ads, which the company first launched last November.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos addressed SAG-AFTRA and the WGA’s historic double strike at the top of Wednesday’s earnings call. “This strike is not an outcome that we wanted,” he said. “We make deals all the time. We are constantly at the table negotiating with writers, with directors, with actors, with producers, with everyone across the industry, and we very much hoped to reach an agreement by now.”

Sarandos acknowledged the “enormous pull” strikes can have on families both financially and emotionally, citing his own upbringing in a union household. “You should know that nobody here, nobody within the AMPTP and I’m sure nobody at SAG or the WGA took any of this lightly,” he added. “But we have a lot of work to do, there are a handful of complicated issues, we’re super committed to getting to an agreement as soon as possible, one that’s equitable and one that enables the industry and everybody in it to move forward into the future.” Sure, Jan.

Sources: 1 | 2