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Netflix Blows Past Earnings Estimates As Subscribers Jump 16% (cnbc.com) 35

Posted by BeauHD from the latest-numbers dept.
Netflix on Thursday reported a 16% rise in memberships in the first quarter, reaching 269.6 million, beating Wall Street expectations. Starting next year, the company will no longer provide quarterly membership numbers or average revenue per user starting next year. CNBC reports: "As we've noted in previous letters, we're focused on revenue and operating margin as our primary financial metrics -- and engagement (i.e. time spent) as our best proxy for customer satisfaction," the company said in its quarterly letter to shareholders. "In our early days, when we had little revenue or profit, membership growth was a strong indicator of our future potential." Netflix said now that it is generating substantial profit and free cash flow -- as well as developing new revenue streams like advertising and a password-sharing crackdown -- its membership numbers are not the only factor in the company's growth. It said the metric lost significance after it started to offer multiple price points for memberships. The company said it would still announce "major subscriber milestones as we cross them."

Netflix also noted that it expects paid net additions to be lower in the second quarter compared to the first quarter "due to typical seasonality." Its second-quarter revenue forecast of $9.49 billion was just shy of Wall Street's estimate of $9.54 billion Shares of the company fell around 4% in extended trading. Netflix reported first-quarter net income of $2.33 billion, or $5.28 per share, versus $1.30 billion, or $2.88 per share, in the prior-year period. The company posted revenue of $9.37 billion for the quarter, up from $8.16 billion in the year-ago quarter.
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Netflix Blows Past Earnings Estimates As Subscribers Jump 16% More

Netflix Blows Past Earnings Estimates As Subscribers Jump 16%

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  • I watch what I read, which is Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Military History, and some Economics.... Netflix managed to avoid, underfund, or ruin every original series that had those themes. They also intruded on my escapism with their urgent need to "reeducate" me on several topics I couldn't give a fuck less on. So, I dropped them a couple of years ago.

    I also realized that there was a reason I quit watching regular TV back in the 1990's and that it didn't change with streaming, even though they dropped

    • Re:Not with my money. Canceled those clowns. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by vux984 ( 928602 ) on Thursday April 18, 2024 @09:06PM (#64406588)

      To an extent yes. There has been some utter crap. Another Life pops immediately to mind as something so unwatchably terrible that i watched just to see if it could get worse (spoiler: yes! wow... so much yes!)

      But that isn't a netflix issue, that's just an issue. From Firefly to The Expanse to Babylon 5 sci-fi especially is hamstrung by its production.

      But there's been plenty of good shows to watch too:

      I quite liked Fall of the House of Usher recently for example.
      Black Mirror, Maniac, Umbrella Academy were good.
      I watched the The OA Season 1 and that was good (I skipped part 2 since i knew it was cancelled mid-arc.) Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency was brilliant - especially season 1.

      "So, books have always been more my thing. I'm sticking with them."

      Sure, I like books too.. but Game of Throne's is a mess that may never be finished and perhaps shouldn't be; and Wheel of Time never was. And even Asimov's foundation is actually better without books 4 and 5, nevermind the Benford books, and Dune ... likewise did not improve with more novels, and also fell off a cliff when other authors kept it going like a zombie corpse. Things that are 'good' always invite 'more' and the 'more' is almost never as good.

      These days my favorite books to read are those that are not part of a series, or at most are a trilogy, and have a beginning middle and an end and above all: a point. They don't try to milk the setting or characters endlessly. With each successive book in the series getting longer and longer as less and less editorial control is exercised over an author seemingly paid by the word.

      • Re: Not with my money. Canceled those clowns. (Score:5, Informative)

        by Tom9729 ( 1134127 ) <tom9729@gma i l . com> on Friday April 19, 2024 @12:20AM (#64406818) Homepage

        FYI Wheel of Time was finished by Brandon Sanderson after Robert Jordan passed. I personally thought it was handled well given the circumstances.

        • I tried to read the first wheel of time and just gave up. I enjoyed the TV series way more than I was expecting.

        • I've read all the books twice. The parent post is right, long epics can get tedious and WoT does so between books 6 and 9 pretty terribly. I almost put the whole thing down when he wrote a whole book about Perrin chasing his kidnapped girlfriend (Faile). Nonetheless, the Sanderson finish was actually probably better written than all but the first three WoT books (which were excellent). Like you, I go in for Trilogies now, mostly, for the same reasons you have elucidated. I just think TV and Film do more to

      • And even Asimov's foundation is actually better without books 4 and 5, nevermind the Benford books,

        Oh, those gosh-awful books by the "Killer B's". Actually the Greg Bear book was decent, in large part because he actually made the effort to honor and conform to Asimov's existing universe and style - unlike Brin and Benford, who were seemingly unable to get out of the way of their own inflated egos.

        I've said it here before, but I think the best non-Asimov "Foundation" book is Donald Kingsbury's Psychohistorical Crisis. Just be warned its a dense, long book that takes a while to get going.

      • To an extent yes. There has been some utter crap. Another Life pops immediately to mind as something so unwatchably terrible that i watched just to see if it could get worse (spoiler: yes! wow... so much yes!)

        You take that back or Starbuck (Katie Sackhoff) will kick you into a power grid while Jimmy Steve (Justin Chatwin) whines back on Earth about his terrible luck!

  • Addiction Comes In All Forms. (Score:3)

    by zenlessyank ( 748553 ) on Thursday April 18, 2024 @08:33PM (#64406552)

    Junkie up.

  • The current streaming service apocalypse. A bunch of streaming services while they haven't gone under or so on profitable that they are licensing out content again and Netflix has been able to pick up a ton of shows and movies. That plus enforcing anti-password sharing policies against heavy users while being smart enough not to enforce them against light users has let them boost subscribers.

    I had every intention of canceling it the moments they started blocking me from password sharing but they never di

    • A bunch of streaming services while they haven't gone under or so on profitable that they are licensing out content again and Netflix has been able to pick up a ton of shows and movies.

      I dunno, personally I don't have the patience to keep up with who has the rights to what. If I want to watch something new and it ain't on one of the services we subscribe to (which presently is Amazon Prime, Disney+ and Hulu), step #2 is hitting the high seas. If I want to re-watch something old, well, that's already on my media server through Kodi. The last time my partner complained that we didn't have Netflix was when there was some Taylor Swift exclusive thing on there, which I promptly just downloa

    • But what tempts you? The salty snack?

      I think not. Your's is a sweet tooth.

      You will always return to your Dark Master.

      The cocoa bean!

  • Are these real subscriptions, or are they subscriptions bundled with other packages, services or forgotten trails periods?

    • Are these real subscriptions, or are they subscriptions bundled with other packages, services or forgotten trails periods?

      Does it matter whether they got money on purpose or by accident or by proxy? And do you really think millions of people chose precisely this quarter to sign up to a trial and forget to cancel?

  • Slashdot doom and gloom (Score:5, Insightful)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday April 19, 2024 @03:22AM (#64406960)

    I held it under good authority that Netflix is in fact dead, everyone cancelled their subscription because of the crap shows, and that the password sharing crackdown would see Netflix subscribers leave in droves.

    As usual Slashdot's unrelenting upmoderrated pessimism on literally every subject we've discussed the past few years has failed to meet expectations. Maybe instead of distributing mod points Slashdot should distribute Prozac.

    Even now the most highly modderated "insightful" comment is about some guy talking about how he left Netflix and how it's gone down hill, as if it is remotely relevant to a story about literal millions of new subscribers.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by argStyopa ( 232550 )

      FOMO and idiots overwhelm what I would say was a reasonable prediction of how informed consumers would behave. The error here was in assuming consumers were faintly aware of their own self-interest and still retained some ability to defer gratification.

      The fact is, despite people bitching constantly about not having enough money, too high of rent, and having miserable lives never able to make ends meet, they still cheerfully drop $20/mo to six different subscription services to watch movies on their $1200

      • to recognize that common sense is truly dead and that the sheeple who formerly skated for free on Netflix would cheerfully and instantly buy their own account

        Well aren't you the entertainment gatekeeper. People enjoying something you do not suddenly makes them all sheeple who lack common sense? Don't be such an arse. For many (myself included) Netflix still provides plenty of value for money. The fact that the freeloading option was removed doesn't change the fundamental equation.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by eepok ( 545733 )

      That's consumers for ya. Most consumers think that they can lie well enough to convince a company ignore all its data and research. The truth is, those who were mooching off others accounts did the calculus (as expected) and figure that it's worth paying a small monthly subscription to continue to have access to the shows and movies they like.

      It's like this in so many sectors.

      "Would you buy this burger for $10?"
      "No way, that's too much! It needs to be $3, no more."
      -- A week later, the person's eating the $1

    • What really happened was the pandemic all ended and Netflix had a down quarter as everyone returned to work. The stock price tanked. I bought it. It's up 100% now.

  • I gave up netflix finally because, most of the time I'd go on there and often nothing caught my interest, then... was all so eventually repetitive. Has Netflix suddenly gotten a bunch of new, unknown, awesome content? I doubt it.

    • 3 Body Problem seems to be a pretty big hit.

      Zakk Snyder's new Rebel Moon movie just released.

      Comedy specials all the time. They're basically the platform for standup now.

      Also, lots of really good easy-to-miss movies from the last decade or so seem to be hitting pretty regularly right now.

      Same with TV shows that never made it on the streaming radar.

  • I think the last interesting show was House of Usher. What am I missing?

  • So they tried super hard to kill sharing of accounts which forced some people to go ahead and get their own accounts and have a surge in new subscribers. The real trick will be if they can hold on to all those accounts. I can imagine a scenario where those "new" accounts last a few months before they realize why they never bothered to pay for the service. They either don't use it frequently enough or there isn't enough content that interests them. Additionally, those who already had accounts and were sharin

  • It seems extra risky to "rock the boat" messing with customers who you already have in a subscription model. Many will pay forever, UNTIL you make a change that causes them to reevaluate the situation. I'd try at all costs to NOT entice my customers to reevaluate the value of my product to them and whether they should continue using it.

  • Report revenues, operating costs, margins, EBITDA, the usual suspects. Those are the numbers needed to assess the health of the company.

    Number of subscribers is a nice anecdote, but it doesn't really matter. If the subscriber base materially suffers, it will show up in the revenues.

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