Netflix: 40 percent of new subscribers take out advertising subscriptions where possible
Netflix added more than 13.1 million subscribers in the last quarter of 2023, the highest number of new customers in Q4 ever. In places where an advertising subscription is available, 40 percent of all new subscribers choose this form.
In the last quarter of 2023, the number of new subscribers who took out an advertising subscription increased by 70 percent compared to the previous quarter. This subscription now has 23 million active users, which is 8 million additional subscribers compared to a few months ago. In the recent Netflix says quarterly figures therefore, that the activities in the advertising market will be expanded, but in one explanation says co-CEO Greg Peters that the company already operates in the countries where the majority of the world’s advertising spend takes place. He suggests that expansion into new markets cannot be ruled out, but that the focus for now is on the current advertising markets.
The streaming service reports that the Basic subscription will be abolished in some countries from the second quarter of 2024, and mentions Canada and the United Kingdom. This had already been known since mid-2023. The Basic subscription is making way for the ads variant and the streaming service plans to phase out the Basic subscription in more markets. The subscription in question is currently available in twelve countries. The Benelux is not included here.
In total, Netflix achieved a turnover of more than $8.3 billion in the last quarter of 2023, which is an increase of more than 12 percent compared to the same quarter the year before. At $938 million, net income was significantly higher than the $55 million of Q4 2022. Compared to the previous quarters of 2023, however, net income is slightly lower. For the first quarter of 2024, the streaming service expects to earn an additional $1 billion net.
Netflix will be taking measures against account sharing from the beginning of 2022 and has been offering a subscription with advertisements in some markets since the end of that year.