Netflix subscribers prime 260m to smash forecasts because it seals WWE deal

Netflix added greater than 13m subscribers within the remaining three months of final yr – its most because the begin of Covid lockdowns.

In an replace simply hours after it took a significant step into reside occasions with a deal to point out flagship wrestling programme Raw, the US streaming large mentioned it signed up 13.12m paying clients within the fourth quarter to take the full to 260.28m.

The enhance was properly above the 8.9m subscribers analysts had forecast and sharply forward of the earlier quarter.

It marked Netflix’s greatest efficiency because it added just below 16m subscribers within the first quarter of 2020 as folks turned to streaming suppliers whereas they had been pressured to remain indoors.

Tag workforce: Netflix has signed a ten-year partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment to point out a weekly programme from January 2025

The California-based firm additionally reported a 12.5 per cent rise in revenues within the fourth quarter. Over the yr, they had been up 6 per cent whereas annual income jumped nearly 1 / 4 to £5.47bn.

‘With over 260m households and growing, no entertainment company has ever tried to program at this scale, and for so many tastes and cultures,’ Netflix mentioned.

Looking forward, Netflix expects a 13.2 per cent rise in revenues within the first three months of this yr. 

And regardless of the affect of the strikes in Hollywood delaying the discharge of some titles, the streaming service promised a ‘big, bold slate for 2024’. 

Netflix boomed throughout Covid lockdowns as households caught at residence signed as much as streaming providers. 

But it misplaced a couple of million subscribers within the first half of 2022 – sparking fears of a chronic decline. The shares misplaced greater than 75 per cent of their worth in late 2021 and early 2022.

Since then, the inventory has nearly trebled, although it stays a way off these 2021 highs.

Before publishing its newest outcomes final night time, Netflix struck a ten-year partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to stream weekly programme Raw from January 2025. It might be proven within the US and past together with within the UK, Canada and Latin America.

It might be proven within the UK, in addition to within the US, Canada and Latin America.

The deal additionally provides Netflix the rights to stream all WWE programmes outdoors the US, together with Smackdown and Wrestlemania.

It marks the primary time in additional than 30 years that Raw is not going to be broadcast reside on a standard TV channel.

Describing the deal as ‘transformative’, Mark Shapiro, president of WWE proprietor TKO, mentioned Netflix ‘threaded the needle perfectly’ by providing reside sports activities programming ‘with a spine of entertainment’.

He added: ‘We cracked the code with Netflix. We’re now a neighbour of the most effective premium programming slate you’re going to seek out within the universe of content material.

‘Our partnership fundamentally alters and strengthens the media landscape, dramatically expands the reach of WWE, and brings weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix.’

The deal got here as Netflix revealed its head of movies is leaving in March to start out his personal media firm.

Scott Stuber, who joined in 2017 to broaden Netflix’s slate of unique movies, was named the chairman of Netflix Film in January 2023.

The former Universal Studios govt used his connections to forge relationships with such prime filmmakers as Alfonso Cuaron, Spike Lee, Greta Gerwig, Rian Johnson, Jane Campion and Martin Scorsese.

Netflix started experimenting with reside occasions final yr, with comic Chris Rock’s stand-up particular Selective Outrage.

It additionally has discovered success with sports-related exhibits reminiscent of its Formula 1 racing documentary collection Drive To Survive and the behind-the-scenes golf documentary collection Full Swing. 

In October, it hosted its first reside sports activities occasion, The Netflix Cup, that includes stars from Drive To Survive and Full Swing.