Netflix reported earnings for the most recent quarter on Tuesday, and also announced a delay in its crackdown on password sharing.
Initially,
the streamer planned to begin eliminating shared accounts between
households in the first quarter of this year, but now said it will push
the effort to Q2.
- Executives cautioned
that moving the password-sharing crackdown forward also means that the
benefits to subscriber rates and revenue will likely arrive in Q3,
rather than Q2.
- The company added 1.75 million subscribers in Q1, roughly aligning with predictions.
- Earnings
of $1.31 billion were down from $1.6 billion a year earlier, but
revenue grew from $7.87 billion to $8.16 billion from the same period.
- Netflix shares initially dipped after the report but recovered in after-hours trading.
- Netflix's ad tier will soon get streams in 1080p, and subscribers will be able to view two streams at once.
- In a call with investors, co-CEO Ted Sarandos said he hoped the industry can avoid a writer's strike,
but promised that Netflix has "a large base of upcoming shows and films
from around the world" to sustain the business even if new projects
take a pause.
- The company also announced the end of its original DVD subscription business, which shipped more than 5 billion discs since its launch, 25 years ago.
- Co-CEO Greg Peters blamed a "technical bug" for delays of the live "Love is Blind" Season 4 reunion special.
