As of the end of last year, there were 23.7 million, an increase of 8.5 million in the fourth quarter alone.
Impact of increased time spent at home in the aftermath of Corona 19
[시사경제신문=원선용 기자] Netflix, an American online video service (OTT) company, is a membership-based video-on-demand website that lets you watch movies and dramas over the Internet. It started online video service in 2009 and can be easily used anywhere through various devices such as computers, smartphones, televisions, game consoles, and set-top boxes as long as it is connected to the Internet.
Since 2012, it has produced its own content and introduced original content that can only be viewed exclusively on Netflix. The number of subscribers worldwide surpassed 200 million last year due to such aggressive market penetration by Netflix.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 19th (local time), Netflix had 23.7 million subscribers as of the end of last year, an increase of 8.5 million in the fourth quarter alone. The number of subscribers increased over the past year was 37 million, the highest ever.
As a result, the number of Netflix subscribers exceeded 100 million in the third quarter of 2017 and doubled again in three years.
The Wall Street Journal evaluated that Netflix’s growth last year was due to the increase in demand for online video services as people spend more time at home in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19). In addition to Netflix, subscribers to competing online video service providers such as Walt Disney’s’Disney+’ and Warner Media’s’HBO Max’ also increased.
When looking at the number of subscribers increased by region in the fourth quarter of last year, Netflix had 860 thousand subscribers in North America, including the US and Canada, compared to 2 million in Asia. In addition, South America increased by 1.2 million, and Europe, Middle East and Africa increased by 4.5 million.
As a result, Netflix’s fourth quarter revenue of last year was $6.64 billion, up 21.8% from $5.45 billion a year earlier. However, net profit was $542 million, down from $587 million in the fourth quarter of the previous year.
In announcing its operating results on the same day, Netflix announced that it would consider buying back shares this year based on cash flow. Accordingly, Netflix’s stock price surged 12% in after-hours trading after the market close.
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