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Netflix closed the year with remarkable growth, adding 8.5 million paying members in the fourth quarter of 2020.
That means that the streaming giant currently has a total of 204 million paying members worldwide. Throughout 2020, the number of new members increased by 37 million, surpassing the increase of 28 million in 2019.
As a result of these growth, the company announced that it had sales of $ 6.64 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $ 1.19 in the fourth quarter of 2020. Analysts expected sales of $ 6.63 billion and EPS of $ 1.39.
Following the earnings announcement, Netflix’s share price rose 12.4% in after-hours trading (at 4:43 EST).
Regarding the future outlook, the company said that it will increase its membership by 6 million in the first quarter of 2021. That’s the same number as the fourth-quarter 2020 earnings forecast, less than half of the 15.8 million new members it gained in the first quarter of 2020 (when lockdown began in the United States).
The company is highlighting the number of hits in the first quarter in its investor lator, with 72 million households “choosing to watch” “The Midnight Sky” within 28 days of its release. It is estimated that 68 million households will choose to watch “Holidate”. The company also said that the latest season of “The Crown” was the most popular to date, with more than 100 million households choosing to watch it “since its initial launch.”
“In addition to the works that are quite auditioned, we are eager to develop hits that will be part of the cultural zeitgeist,” the company said. “In 2020 alone, there were’Tiger King: Breeders are stronger than tigers ?!’,’ Bridgerton’, and’The Queen’s Gambit’. In fact, the Netflix series is in 2020. It made up nine of the ten programs searched worldwide, and two of the top ten when it came to movies were from Netflix. ”
The company has admitted that it is intensifying competition with new streaming services such as Disney +, Peacock and HBO Max, but it has more users than any other competitor. For example, Disney + had 8.68 million subscribers in early December 2020 (Disney’s service started a little over a year ago and is still in the process of global expansion).
“Our strategy is simple. If we continue to improve Netflix every day to make our members even more happy, it will be the first service of choice for streaming entertainment,” Netflix said. “2020 is a testament to this approach. Disney + was a huge success in the first year (87 million paying members!) And we recorded the largest increase in paying members ever.”
EMarketer analyst Eric Haggstrom pointed out similar points in a statement.
Netflix finished 2020 in good shape with an increase of 36 million members to 200 million. Despite intensifying competition with Disney and other companies, Netflix is expected to grow further with 2020 being the best performer to date and 2021 with plans to release content that is likely to be popular. So far, Netflix is clearly the winner in the competition in the streaming industry.
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