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Netflix posts monster earnings report as revenue surges by 43%

Updated Apr 16th, 2018 4:38PM EDT
Netflix Earnings Q1
Image: AP/REX/Shutterstock

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Netflix late this afternoon released its earnings report for the March quarter and the streaming giant delivered yet again. By the time the March quarter drew to a close, Netflix managed to add 7.4 million new subscribers, easily besting the 6.43 million estimate Wall St. analysts were anticipating.

All told, Netflix’s subscriber base currently stands at about 125 million, with about 45% of those subscribers coming from the United States. As far as revenue is concerned, Netflix for the quarter gone by posted revenue of $3.7 billion, an impressive figure that also beat Wall St. estimates and is 43% higher than what the company posted during the same quarter a year-ago.

Netflix’s letter to shareholders reads in part:

Revenue grew 43% year over year in Q1, the fastest pace in the history of our streaming business, due to a 25% increase in average paid streaming memberships and a 14% rise in ASP. Operating margin of 12% rose 232 bps year over year. This was higher than our beginning of quarter guidance, due primarily to the timing of content spend.

We’ll have $7.5-$8 billion of content expense (on a P&L basis) in 2018 across a wide variety of formats (series, films, unscripted, docs, comedy specials, non-English language) to serve the diverse tastes of our growing global membership base.

One of the more interesting tidbits from Netflix’s letter to shareholders is that the company is investing more resources on international programming, hardly a surprise given that the majority of subscribers now reside outside of the U.S.

“Our investment in international production continued to increase with big, non-English originals like O Mecanismo (The Mechanism),” the letter reads in part. Netflix also adds that the Spanish-language thriller Money Hesist “became the most watched non-English series on Netflix ever.”

In the wake of Netflix’s earnings report, shares of the streaming giant are up nearly 7%.

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Yoni Heisler Contributing Writer

Yoni Heisler has been writing about Apple and the tech industry at large with over 15 years of experience. A life long expert Mac user and Apple expert, his writing has appeared in Edible Apple, Network World, MacLife, Macworld UK, and TUAW.

When not analyzing the latest happenings with Apple, Yoni enjoys catching Improv shows in Chicago, playing soccer, and cultivating new TV show addictions.