It was a Potpourri of high and low points, although many had expected 2023 to be the year for Neflix’s recovery. The American Subscription-based streaming service has reported that in Q1 2023 the brand started on a positive note by adding 1.75 million subscribers, bringing up the total number of global subscribers to 232.5 million.
The subscriber growth represented a 4.9 percent year-over-year increase compared to the first quarter of 2022, when the streamer lost subscribers.
For the quarter ended March 31, Netflix reported earnings of $1.31 billion, or $2.88 a share, compared with $1.6 billion, or $3.53 a share, a year earlier. Revenue grew to $8.16 billion from $7.87 billion in the prior-year period.
The streaming giant also closed out 2022 with a total of 230.75 million global subscribers, representing an addition of 7.66 million subscribers during the fourth quarter after a year that saw the company lose upwards of 970,000 subscribers at one point and faced a major stock price plummet as a result.
“While this means that some of the expected membership growth and revenue benefit will fall in Q3 rather than Q2, we believe this will result in a better outcome from both our members and our business,” the company said in its earnings release.
Netflix saw modest growth in the U.S./Canada region, adding 100,000 subscribers during the quarter — though some of which appear to have been at the cheaper ad-supported level, given that the average revenue per membership dropped from $16.23 in Q4 to $16.18 in Q1. The Latin America region underperformed for Netflix as it lost 450,000 subscribers during the first quarter.
As Netflix turns its focus to revenue numbers for its quarterly earnings, the company is forging ahead with its account sharing crackdown, which rolled out in markets like Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain earlier this year. The U.S. will have its turn beginning in the second quarter, Netflix said in its Tuesday letter to shareholders.
And as the ad-supported tier begins a new era for Netflix, the streaming giant is also closing the chapter on another as it pulls back on spending. Ahead of announcing its first-quarter earnings, Netflix said it was bidding adieu to its long-standing DVD business on Sept. 29 after 25 years of sending out those iconic red envelopes.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said goodbye to its DVD mail service has continued to shrink, making it “increasingly difficult” to continue with the business. “We feel so privileged to have been able to share movie nights with our DVD members for so long, so proud of what our employees achieved and excited to continue pleasing entertainment fans for many more decades to come,” Sarandos wrote. “To everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: thank you.”