Netflix
stock was rising Thursday after the streaming platform surpassed 23 million global monthly active users for its ad-based plan.
Amy Reinhard, president of advertising, confirmed the number of users for the less expensive plan at aVariety Entertainment Summit on Wednesday, and
Netflix
confirmed the numbers with Barron’s on Thursday. The company said in November that it had more than 15 million monthly active users worldwide.
Shares of Netflix were rising 2% to $488.10 Wednesday. The stock has jumped 48% over the last 12 months.
Netflix has continued to grow subscriber numbers after cracking down on password sharing. In May 2023, the company changed its rules to only allow people sharing an address to use the same Netflix account. Some analysts cited concerns at the time that the move would cause the platform to lose subscribers as people struggled with a challenging economic environment. The opposite, however, has been true.
Netflix said in October that it added a total of 8.8 million subscribers during its third quarter. That was more than Wall Street anticipated.
The influx in users to the ad-supported tier shouldn’t come as a surprise. At a UBS Global conference in early December, Chief Executive Ted Sarandos said that about 30% of the company’s new sign-ups were for Netflix’s ad-tier, which costs $7.99 a month. That compares with the company’s standard plan at $15.49 a month and the premium plan for $22.99 a month.
More information about the amount of subscribers Netflix added during the quarter will be released on Jan. 23, when the company reports fourth-quarter earnings.
Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com
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