Netflix disappoints the market
July 21, 2021
By Chris Forrester
There was confirmation from Netflix that it would be adding gaming into its portfolio of entertainment choices, but little else in the way of good news for investors or market watchers from the streaming company’s latest earnings report.
The streaming service added a net 1.5 million subs during the April-June period and takes to 5.5 million its overall growth for the half-year, which is its weakest performance since 2013. The same period last year saw a net gain of 26 million subs.
The lacklustre first-half year was clearly not helped by the slew of competition from the likes of Disney, HBO, Amazon and Apple. However, and to put the results into perspective, it still ended the year with some 209 million subscribers.
Revenue, helped by price increases during the period, rose a healthy 19 per cent to $7.3 billion during the quarter-year, but profits dipped to $1.35 billion.
CEO Reed Hastings said the planned combination of Warner Media and Discovery and Amazon’s upcoming acquisition of MGM “are examples of the ongoing industry consolidation as firms adapt to a world where streaming supplants linear TV.”
“The industry has consolidated materially over the years (Time Warner/AT&T, Viacom/CBS, Discovery/Scripps, Disney/Fox, Comcast/NBCU/Sky, etc.) and we don’t believe this consolidation has affected our growth much, if at all,” he added.