Netflix posted first-quarter earnings with revenue that was in line with analysts' estimates but the company has grown slower than it expected.
Netflix posted first-quarter earnings with revenue that was in line with analysts’ estimates but the company has grown slower than it expected. It reported revenue of $2.64 billion but fell short on subscriber numbers adding 4.95 million new subscribers in the quarter, fewer than the 5.2 million it had forecast. The company, however, is still expected to reach the 100-million subscriber mark this week.
In the US, the firm added a third fewer new members than the same period a year ago, while overseas members fell 22%.
Netflix blamed the drop in subscriber numbers partly on shifting some of its popular shows to the second quarter of the year. The streaming giant expects to add 8.15 million new members in total for the first half of the year, just below the 8.42 it added in the first half of last year.
Chief Executive Reed Hastings said that the growth of the global internet meant the opportunity for the firm was still “gigantic”, and said the firm planned to continue investing in films and shows aimed at increasing its membership.
“We have come to see these quarterly variances as mostly noise in the long-term growth trend and adoption of internet TV,” he added.
The company expects to spend $1 billion on marketing original content in 2017.
