Streaming giant Netflix is no stranger to criticism, but this time appears to have picked up huge subscriber numbers.
Over the third financial quarter of this year, the company has raked in another 5.1million subscribers. Originally Wall Street estimates claimed they’d pick up around 4million, proving financial experts wrong.
The time frame, which ran until the end of September, introduced a number of hit shows to the app. These included Nobody Wants This and drama, Emily in Paris.
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This is good news for the company, which has been making plenty of money. Shares in the service went up $30.49 (£23.37), or 4.3%, higher at $717.01 (£549.54) after the earnings report. Since the start of the year its stock has risen by 47%.
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Netflix started humbly, despite its huge profit margins. Their head office is in Los Gatos, California, growing to the massive operation it is today from its modest roots as a DVD postal service back in 1997, when it was first founded.
Their quarterly revenue was a whopping $9.825billion (£7billion), just ahead of the $9.769 billion(£7billion) consensus forecast. Netflix has tough competitors, however, against the likes of Amazon Prime, AppleTV+ and Disney+.
Netflix recently cracked down on password sharing, ensuring that one account could be used per household. Despite major backlash, the scheme generated huge revenue.
“We’ve delivered on our plan to reaccelerate our business, and we’re excited to finish the year strong with a great fourth-quarter slate,” wrote the company in a letter exclusively for shareholders.
As of May 2023, Netflix introduced rules which cracked down on people who borrowed passwords from subscribers. Those who shared their login details with people outside their household are being asked to fork out an extra £4.99 per month or verify their devices.
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While it generated huge profits for shareholders, users were not happy. No stranger to controversy, Netflix was slammed on social media.
One X user wrote: “I really just want to see Netflix fall as a company. Taking away password sharing. Charging more for less quality content and putting in ads (while also locking the ad tier out of content on their platform).
“Go f**k yourself, Netflix. I will be so happy the day I see you fail.”
Another said: “Netflix what are y’all even doing? You’ll crackdown on password sharing and introduce ads, but you won’t even release many if any of your films in theatres?!”
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