Netflix gets subscriber boost ahead of rival's challenge

Q4 sees the storm break

by Andy Bassett

In their last quarterly report before Disney, Apple and others enter the streaming market, Netflix receives a subscriber boost for Q3.

After their first reported decline in subscriber numbers back in July, Netflix has reported 6.77 million new subscribers worldwide, a figure just ahead of analyst predictions but 200,000 below the company’s own target. This gives the streaming veteran a total global subscriber base of 153 million.

No doubt seen as a positive last gasp of competitor-free air before the hard work really begins, a breakdown of the figures does actually reveal a disappointing number of new subscribers in the company’s own backyard with only 520,000 US customers added against predictions of 800,000, indicating that growth was largely international.

Still, after Q2’s US subscriber loss, it will be seen as a win by most industry analysts and reflects the quality and popularity of recent shows like 13 Reasons Why, the final season of Orange is The New Black and season three of Stranger Things which became Netflix’s most watched show, seen in an estimated 64 million households during its first four weeks.

Revenue for the July to September quarter was posted at $5.2 billion which was an increase of 31 percent over the same period in 2018.

Next up for the 12 year old streaming giant is a tricky 4th quarter for 2019 which will see rival (and in some cases cheaper) services move into the SVOD sector with the accompanying buzz of strong brand awareness, hefty startup budgets and that ‘new car smell’ which can be so persuasive to an undecided consumer.

During this period, Netflix will be hoping that their upcoming content, which includes Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated The Irishman and the next season of The Crown, will help them pick up a projected 7.6 million subscribers and keep them running in a race that will have far more competitors than ever before.

In a recent statement to investors, Netflix welcomed the new opponents, explaining, “Just like the evolution from broadcast TV to cable, these once-in-a-generation changes are very large and open up big, new opportunities for many players.” The statement further added, “For example, for the first few decades of cable, networks like TBS, USA, ESPN, MTV and Discovery didn’t take much audience share from each other, but instead, they collectively took audience share from broadcast viewing.”

There’re only a few weeks left until the streaming video on demand (SVOD) sector suddenly gets very crowded. What are you most looking forward to in this new paradigm?

Source: www.advanced-television.com, www.digitaltveurope.com
Image Source: Breakingviews.com
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