Streaming giant Netflix has seen its profits soar across the first three months of this year after ushering in a global crackdown on its previously lax password-sharing policy.
The US firm has said that it has now gained 9.3 million customers in the first quarter, elevating its total user base to close to 270 million individuals across more than 190 international markets.
Despite saying that it would stop reporting key subscriber numbers from next year, Netflix has credited the decision with helping it register a £1.85 billion jump in profits this quarter, a 15% rise year-on-year.
According to the BBC however, some of the company’s investors have expressed concerns that this decision to cease reporting subscription numbers could be an indication that its burst of customer growth may be reaching its end.
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Former Netflix director and current principal of entertainment investment firm SPG Global, Simon Gallagher told the BBC that Netflix’s promising number may not last, adding: “It’s a definite tailwind from the crackdown on password sharing, we saw that last quarter, it’s continued into this quarter and will continue for another quarter or two but there’s an expectation that will come to an end by this time next year.”
US analysts have pointed to similar steps taken by social media giants Meta and X, formerly Twitter, when their own respective user growth began to slow down.
At this stage, Netflix UK offer three plan tiers: a £4.99-a-month ad-supported tier first introduced in November 2022, a ‘standard’ ad-free tier for £10.99-a-month (both allow two separate devices to be used concurrently), followed by a ‘premium’ tier for £17.99-a-month (on which four devices can be used concurrently.)
