Netflix stock soared 13% on Wednesday, the most in history, after the streaming giant's big bet on sports added a record 18.9 million subscribers in the holiday quarter, extending its already sizable advantage over other players. The highest value was recorded.
The company also announced price hikes in markets including the United States on Tuesday, as it aims to increase revenue while shifting its focus from subscriber growth to other performance metrics such as revenue.
“We thought it was a typo. Netflix once again defied expectations and achieved subscriber growth that far exceeded even the most unreasonable subscriber bogey,” Bernstein analyst Laurent said. Mr. Yoon said.
The company's global subscriber base now exceeds 300 million, giving it a commanding lead in the streaming wars and more leverage in negotiations with marketing companies looking to grow their ad-supported businesses. I am.
Netflix is already worth more than the combined valuations of rivals Disney, Comcast, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, and if profits hold, it would add more than $50 billion to its roughly $370 billion market capitalization.
The stock hit a record high of $988 in early morning trading Wednesday, paving the way for a possible stock split.
The company's stock price has soared more than 80% last year, driven by Netflix's expansion into live sports with content such as a boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson and the premiere of a popular National Football League game on Christmas. It skyrocketed. Pop star Beyoncé's time performance.
The Tyson vs. Paul fight on Nov. 15 was the most-streamed sporting event ever, and the most-streamed sporting event of any event since Antenna began tracking this data in 2019. brought up.
Strong content this quarter also includes the second season of “The Squid Game” and the hit streaming movie “Carry On.”
“Sports rights can be incredibly expensive, so it makes sense that Netflix would choose to hold special events. Such events attract advertisers who want to reach large audiences. It's also great for wearing,” said Dan Coatsworth, an analyst at AJ Bell.
Coatsworth and several other analysts said it was inevitable that Netflix would begin bidding for rights to other major sports in the future.
The company has already secured the rights to broadcast the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women's World Cups in the United States.
But this strong report hid one concern: the surge in subscribers didn't translate into a similar surge in revenue.
Revenue was up 16%, only about $100 million more than expected, but subscriber growth was about twice as much as expected.
Ben Ballinger, a technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said the narrow margin is due to both subscriber growth from countries with lower average revenue per user (ARPU) and higher enrollment in ad-supported tiers. He said that this may be due to.
But he added that the price hikes already announced and expected to take effect in 2025 should boost sales.
