The Netflix logo is shown in this photo from the company's website, in New York, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix on Wednesday disclosed summertime subscriber gains that surpassed industry analysts’ projections, signaling the video streaming service’s In an effort to bring in even more revenue, Netflix also announced it's raising the price for its most expensive streaming service by $2 to $23 per month in the U.S.
Netflix has picked up more than 16 million subscribers through the first nine months of the year, already eclipsing the 8.9 million subscribers that it added all of last year. But it’s still a fraction of the more than 36 million additional subscribers that Netflix attracted in 2020 when the pandemic turned into a gold mine for the service at a time when people were looking for ways to stay entertained while tethered to home.
Netflix’s decision to abandon its long-established practice of allowing subscribers to share their account passwords with friends and family outside their households has prompted more viewers who had been watching the video service for free to sign up for their own accounts. The crackdown also has boosted Netflix’s in another way – current subscribers can share their accounts with someone living outside their households by paying higher monthly fees.
Netflix’s decision to open its service up to commercials hasn’t been a big boon yet, but Harding Loevner analyst Uday Cheruvu believes that will change as advertisers realize that the personal information the company has gleaned from viewers’ entertainment tastes can help target their commercials at consumers most likely to buy their products in the same way internet powerhouses such as Google and Facebook have been doing for years.