Netflix lost nearly 1 million subscribers in the most recent quarter — the latest evidence that the streaming giant is getting picked apart by rivals and is running out of room for growth overseas.
Still, that was better than the 2 million subscriber loss it had predicted. The Los Gatos, California-based streamer said it expects to return to growth in the current quarter, citing the launch of the first part of its hit show, “Stranger Things” Season 4.
Netflix shares, which have fallen roughly 67% this year on worries about future growth, rose 7% in after hours trading.
Last quarter, Netflix shocked the media world when it lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter and it predicted the hemorrhaging would continue.
The streaming giant blamed password sharing, the uptick in connected TV adoption and sluggish economic growth, among other things. It said it would crackdown on account sharing and add a lower-priced tier that supports advertising to help pump up its subscriber base, which totals nearly 221 million global subscribers.
On Tuesday, the company said it lost 970,000 subscribers in the second quarter, less than Wall Street’s expectation of 1.84 million.
In the second quarter, Netflix said earnings-per-share came in at $3.20.
Netflix noted that the strong US dollar hit revenue, which grew 9% to $7.97 billion. Revenue would have increased by 13% without the foreign exchange impact, the firm said.
Wall Street expected EPS of $2.96 on revenue of $8.04 billion.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
