Netflix increases the number of subscribers to nearly 140 million

Netflix has finished the year 2018 with more than 139 million paying subscribers, or 8.8 million additional members by December 31st.

According to the streaming giant, this growth reflects the success of its original programs, such as Bird Box and Roma.

Netflix's original content now represents the "vast majority" of its most popular shows, officials said.

US viewers also spend about 10% of their time on Netflix, they said.

The figures accompanied the release of the company's quarterly earnings report on Thursday.

They offered investors a rare glimpse of audience viewing habits as the company sought to explain how its mbadive content expenditures, mostly financed by debt, are paying off.

Analysts estimate that Netflix has spent more than $ 13 billion in movies and broadcasts this year.

Netflix said its spending should increase.

"Our multi-year plan is to continue to significantly expand our content while increasing our revenue faster to increase our operating margins," said Netflix in a shareholder letter. linked to the report on results.

"Our growth is based on the quality of our experience," he said.

Price war?

Equities, which had risen sharply in recent weeks, fell more than 3% after business hours, as fourth-quarter sales did not meet badysts' expectations.

The company released a quarterly business figure of $ 4.2 billion (3.2 billion pounds sterling), up 27% over the same period in 2017.

However, an increase in prices in the United States and some Latin American and Caribbean countries announced this week could generate additional revenue of about $ 1 billion.

The firm said it would also seek to adjust prices elsewhere when currencies would fluctuate, but warned that increases could be lower than exchange rate fluctuations, which would cause a hiccough income.

George Salmon, an badyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said he expected netflix subscribers to swallow the higher fees.

The increase of 8.8 million paying subscribers – mostly from overseas – represents a growth of 6% over the previous quarter.

"The worry, of course, is that international bruisers like Disney and Amazon are not going to go down without a fight, and that they both have the financial power to fight back pretty hard. viewers is just getting started. "

Analysis

Dave Lee, BBC Technology Journalist North America, San Francisco

In his letter to the shareholders, there is a candid pbadage about Netflix's true competition.

He added that he was facing heightened competition vis-à-vis Fortnite video game viewers compared to those who watched HBO, his entertainment service provider.

"When YouTube was broadcast globally for a few minutes in October, the number of our consultations and registrations increased for this period," he added.

That's what makes it so interesting to predict the future of Netflix: they are not so active in the entertainment business, but in that of the eyes.

As a consumer, you have more elements than ever to watch, or with which you can interact, and the competition for Netflix will only intensify in 2019.

In the letter, Netflix has been slow to grow its success – Bird Box, which it says should be watched by 80 million homes within four weeks of its release, and Elite, a Spanish-language exclusive, which has attracted more than 20 million people.

That's good news, but we'll learn more about the health of the company in three months, when we'll know if consumers have a problem with the recent Netflix price hike in the United States and in the United States. ;other countries.

In terms of current results, they are rather insignificant: the company disappointing, Wall Street disappointing on some measures (income) but exceeding expectations on others (growth in the number of subscribers). By the time I write these lines, stocks are down, but I expect the price to recover quickly.