
According to a report by CNBC, Netflix added 13.1 million subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2023, bringing its total number of paid subscribers to 260.8 million. This is a new record for the service, and the subscriber growth easily tops the 8.76 million paid membership adds Netflix reported in the third quarter. The company also topped Wall Street’s revenue expectations, with earnings of $2.11 per share and revenue of $8.83 billion.
Reed Hastings is the founder and Executive Chairman and Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters are now Co-CEOs of Netflix. Netflix is a disruptive and revolutionary streaming content service provider and production company. Under the leadership of Reed Hastings it has almost single-handedly changed the way we experience media forever. From a simple DVD sales and rental platform to a global streaming behemoth, Netflix has shifted its focus from targeting subscriber growth to focusing on profit, using price hikes, password crackdowns, and ad-supported tiers to boost revenue.
Netflix’s business model is still a subscription-based service today, where customers can access an entire library of TV shows and movies in one easily-accessible place – and from a multitude of devices, too, including smart TVs, mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and media sticks.
However, Netflix said the competition remains fierce, which is “why continuing to improve our entertainment offering is so important, and as many of our competitors cut back on their content spend, we continue to invest in our slate.”
Recently, Netflix and TKO Group Holdings’ WWE (TKO) announced a new partnership that will bring WWE’s flagship program Raw to the streaming service, beginning January 2025.
Netflix has also been successful in expanding its multilingual platform and adding more languages to its library. Netflix uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to personalize its content and improve its recommendation system. According to a report by Multilingual, Netflix has a dedicated team that works on subtitles and dubs, which is a work of art that blends innovation with human craftsmanship, helping stories translate meaningfully to other cultures. Netflix now includes subtitles for titles in 37 languages, and dubs titles in more than 35 languages. Netflix has also explored AI applications for its business and industry through two unique use-cases: Image Personalization for Viewers and AVA: Creating Appropriate Thumbnail Images.
In 2023, Netflix’s overall carbon footprint increased from 1.05 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) in 2022 to 1.54 million MTCO2e in 2023 for scopes 1, 2 and 3. However, Netflix is on track to meet its science-based climate targets, and it’s investing in high-quality carbon credit projects.
Netflix has boosted subscriber numbers, revenues, profits, earnings per share, free cashflow, ad tier memberships and average revenue per member. Wall Street analysts expect ARM to pick up later this year as both the ad tier impact and price hike effects take hold. This demonstrates that Netflix has brand loyalty, its growing scale widens its moat, good free cash flow, inflation resilience and levers to continue to boost subscribers and profitability by focusing on quality content backed by AI and operational efficiency.
From 38 Wall Street analysts the 12 months ahead share price is forecast to have a low end of $375, average expectation of $567 and a high expectation of $700.