Netflix gains 15.8 million new paying users
The number of paying subscribers to Netflix increased by 15.8 million in the first quarter of this year. That figure was significantly lower in the previous quarters and reached 9.6 million new paying customers in the first quarter of 2019.
Netflix said in a statement to its quarterly results that it expected to welcome 7.2 million new paying users for the past quarter. By comparison, the actual number of 15.8 million has more than doubled, which the company attributes to the corona crisis. In the first two months of this year, subscriber growth was similar to the trend of the past two years, but according to Netflix, the lockdown measures caused a marked increase in the number of households from the beginning of March.
Of the 15.8 million new paying customers, 2.3 million are from the United States and Canada, while Europe added nearly 7 million new paying customers. That is significantly higher than the 1.9 million and 4.7 million new customers added in the US and Canada and Europe respectively in the first quarter of 2019.
The company hopes that governments around the world can quickly relax the stay-at-home rule, after which Netflix expects viewing figures and growth to decline. For the second quarter, the company expects to welcome 7.5 million new paying customers, but the streaming service acknowledges that this is actually guesswork due to the uncertainty.
Most Netflix productions have been paused, although that will only have a limited effect on the introduction of new releases before the second quarter. Netflix also states that it has temporarily limited the number of ‘product innovations’ as a precaution, which presumably includes new additions such as the earlier introduction of national top 10 lists or new functions for parents to manage viewing behaviour. The company also says it is donating $30 million to the TV and film industry in countries where it has a large production base, including donating $1 million to the Film Fund for a relief fund.
Netflix now has 182 million subscribers worldwide, up from 149 million in the same period a year earlier; that is an increase of 22.8 percent. Revenue in the quarter was $5.8 billion, an increase of 27.6 percent compared to the first quarter of 2019. Profit came in at $709 million, compared to a year earlier. $344 million came out.