Netflix is going from strength to strength based on its numbers from the last quarter of 2017. The company recently released the figures which include 8.3 million fresh subscribers to the platform with 2 million of these coming from the US.
Their shares were already inching up even before the announcement with an all-time high of $227.38 on Monday. Then the news came that the Wall Street estimates were beaten by a mile for both US and international subscribers which were set at just 1.28 million and 5.02 million, respectively. The impressive figures further boosted the price by over 9%.
This growth in subscribers also translated into an increase in revenues. The Q4 earnings per share was 41 cents while the revenue was $3.29 billion. There were doubts due to the price increases rolled out during the quarter including a bump from $9.99 to $10.99 a month in the US. It seems that customers were not discouraged. There was a 25% rise in paid streaming memberships and a 35% rise in revenues.
Among the original content that debuted in Q4 was the Will Smith film "Bright". It did not please the critics but it did garner considerable interest with 11 million viewers from December 22 until Christmas according to Nielsen. Other notable titles include new seasons of "Black Mirror", "The Crown", and "Stranger Things". There were also new shows like "The Punisher", "Mindhunter", and "Godless".
Moving forward, Netflix says that it will boost its marketing campaign by spending as much as $2 billion. It will also spend up to $8 billion on new content to drive growth in subscriptions.
Drew David Pascarella discusses Netflix's shares surge