Netflix’s subscriber growth a sign crackdown on password sharing is paying off

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix enjoyed its biggest springtime spurt in subscribers since the early days of the pandemic three years ago, providing the latest sign that a recent crackdown on password sharing and the rollout of a cheaper subscription option are paying off.

The video streaming service added 5.9 million subscribers during the April-June period, according to numbers released Wednesday along with its latest quarterly financial results.

The gains easily surpassed the roughly 2.2 million additional subscribers that analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had anticipated. Netflix ended June with 238.4 million worldwide subscribers.

Investors seemed unsatisfied, perhaps rattled by management commentary in a shareholder letter warning that “quite a competitive battle” continues to unfold against the backdrop of ongoing strikes by both the writers and actors union in the US that threaten to clog the pipelines feeding entertainment to streaming services.

Netflix's stock price fell 8% in Wednesday's extended trading. The drop could also reflect some investors locking in profits that have accrued while the shares have climbed by more than 50% so far this year.

Money manager Louis Navellier said Netflix now appears “locked and loaded” again after going through a turbulent stretch that included losing 1.2 million subscribers during the first half of last year.

Even though Netflix has bounced back this year, Investing.com analyst Jesse Cohen believes another slowdown may be coming.

“It will be a challenge for Netflix to sustain this pace of subscriber growth in the future,” Cohen said.

Netflix predicted its subscriber growth during the July-September period will be similar to the numbers posted from April through June.

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