Netflix Gained 9.3 Million Subscribers This Year

Last year, Netflix made a particularly risky bet by urging users who share passwords to create their own accounts — but it paid off.

Netflix added more than 9 million subscribers in the first three months of the year, reaching a record high of 269.6 million subscribers. I Photo: Netflix

Netflix, the dominant player in streaming, added more than 9 million subscribers in the first three months of the year, reaching a record high of 269.6 million subscribers, as reported by Samantha Delouya for CNN.

“It added more subscribers than many analysts, myself included, expected,” said eMarketer senior analyst Ross Benes.

“This signals that password sharing was even more common than previously thought as Netflix keeps converting freeloader viewers into paid users.”

While the subscriber additions exceeded Wall Street’s estimates, the company still reported a drop in growth from its blowout fourth-quarter report when Netflix added 13 million subscribers.

Netflix announced Thursday that it plans to stop sharing its quarterly subscriber numbers in 2025.

The company also reported $9.37 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $5.28 for the first quarter, beating Wall Street’s estimates, according to FactSet. However, the stock, which has been a darling of Wall Street this year, fell in after-hours trading.

Much of the company’s past growth and success, analysts say, has come from its old, well-established business model. In recent months, Netflix has made moves to expand and even radically reinvent its business in an effort to boost profit.