Netflix Clarifies Subscriber Growth Projections
October 17, 2018
Coming off a record fiscal third quarter in subscriber growth, Netflix is again sitting pretty atop the global subscription streaming video market with 137 million subs, including 130 million paid.
In the Oct. 16 fiscal interview webcast, co-founder/CEO Reed Hastings reiterated that the platform – going forward – would focus projections on paid subscribers rather than including new subscribers engaged in free trial service.
“We’re getting a little better on the forecasting in particular the evolution to paid net ads,” Hastings said.“So, I think by focusing going forward on paid, we’ll be able to be a little more accurate and focused on the fundamentals.”
The return to “fundamentals” underscores Netflix’s concern about the market’s backlash in the previous fiscal quarter when the service failed to meet Wall Street and its own subscriber growth projections – estimates that included free trials.
“If you look at that paid net ad growth, you can actually see how remarkably steady [we are],” Hastings said.
To sustain subscriber growth in the mature domestic market, Netflix is streamlining growth projections and focusing on bundling the service with pay-TV operators and mobile phone services, including recent deals with T-Mobile and Altice USA.
“There’s still pockets of consumers who – it’s harder for them to get the activation energy to go directly to the website and sign up, but if we can put … a call to action and bundle that the subscription as part of their pay-TV offering or the mobile offering, they can then get right into the service,” said chief product officer Greg Peters.
Globally, Netflix’s sub growth projections remain relatively unlimited for the near future. Much of that due to the service’s burgeoning presence in India – a country with more than 300 million mobile phone subscriptions.
“A couple hundred million people watching content through the Internet in India is a really exciting idea,” said CCO Ted Sarandos.