From Fortune Magazine:

Netflix continues to make waves with record-breaking numbers. After securing a $5 billion deal with the WWE, it added 13 million subscribers in its best-ever quarter, boosting total subscribers to 260 million worldwide and totaling $33.7 billion in revenue for the last year.

Stock prices rose 8.6% post-trading hours in response to Netflix’s fourth-quarter results, with revenue up 12.5% and net income up 160% compared to the same quarter in 2023, reaching a total of $938 million.

Netflix showed its dominance over Hollywood, emerging from the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes in a promising position. The company thrived where competitors faltered, leading to impressive financial results and a 40% increase in new subscribers in ad-supported markets.

The writers’ and actors’ strikes also changed Hollywood’s viewpoints on content licensing, with more traditional studios licensing content to Netflix after production was frozen. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos cooly stated, “Sometimes we can uniquely add more value to the studio’s IP than they can,” hinting at deals to come.

Contrary to speculation, Netflix will not be acquiring linear assets and is uninterested in the wider M&A market, confident in its ability to stay ahead of its declining competitors. The company also expects that competition for content and subscribers will remain fierce.

Netflix’s subscriber growth was partly driven by a password sharing crackdown that began implementing in March. Subscribers now have to pay an additional $7.99 per month if they want to share their account with someone. Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters stated the company expects to reap the benefits of this in the foreseeable future.

Netflix’s ad-supported tier is hitting the mark. The company states that the product is still growing and has 23 million subscribers to users in its ad tier. This was a 70% increase from the previous quarter, with 40% of new subscribers across all markets signing up for the service with an ad tier.



Read more: Netflix earnings: Stock surges 8% on addition of 13 million subscribers