Netflix Inc. ended last year with more than 200 million subscribers, a milestone powered by consumers left homebound by the pandemic, eager for entertainment, and rising demand in international markets where the streaming giant has a head start over many rivals, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The company said it is now able to generate more cash than it needs, and no longer anticipates having to borrow money to fuel its growth strategy. Netflix shares were up 12% in after-hours trading.
The company got a boost from the coronavirus pandemic, which forced consumers to cut back on a host of leisure activities—from dining out and vacations to visiting theaters and concert venues—as economies locked down. With many people spending more time at home, streaming demand jumped.
While the majority of television networks continue to be without most of their original content because of production shutdowns due to Covid-19, Netflix’s well-stocked content arsenal lifted it to new heights. Netflix signed up what it said was a record 37 million subscribers in 2020 and had a total of 203.7 million users when the year ended—more than twice as many as it had a mere three years earlier.
Among the strong performers for Netflix was the racy historical drama “Bridgerton,” the miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit,” a new season of “The Crown” and the George Clooney movie “Midnight Sky.”
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Netflix added more than 8.5 million subscribers on a net basis, a gain that surpassed its forecast for the period.
In October, Netflix raised the monthly price of its most popular subscription plan, bumping up the cost of its standard streaming service, its most popular option, by $1 to $13.99. It still has a less-expensive basic offering, as well as a premium one now priced at $17.99 a month.
Netflix isn’t the only streaming service benefiting from the pandemic. Disney+ is already near 90 million subscribers since its launch in November 2019. The company recently projected reaching 260 million subscribers world-wide by 2024.
WarnerMedia’s new HBO Max streaming platform, which launched last May, hasn’t grown as fast as its rivals. However, the company recently unveiled plans to release the entire slate of Warner Bros. theatrical movies on HBO Max simultaneously in the hopes of boosting subscribers. WarnerMedia is a unit of AT&T.
Comcast’s streaming platform Peacock, which offers a variety of price plans including a free option, has 26 million sign-ups.
The newest entries to the streaming wars include Discovery+ from Discovery Communications Inc., which launched earlier this month, and Paramount+ from ViacomCBS Inc., which is scheduled to debut in March in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.
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