Netflix adds 5.9 million paid subscribers in Q2, revenue at $8.2 billion

Streaming giant Netflix added 5.9 million subscribers globally in the second quarter (Q2), with the US and Canada making up 1.17 million new members in the April-June period.

In May, the company launched paid sharing in more than 100 countries, representing more than 80 per cent of its revenue base.

"Revenue in each region is now higher than pre-launch, with sign-ups already exceeding cancellations. Paid net additions were 5.9 million in Q2," Netflix said in a statement late on Wednesday, adding that its password-sharing crackdown is working.

The revenue was $8.2 billion (3 per cent increase year-on-year) and operating profit was $1.8 billion in the second quarter.

"We expect revenue growth to accelerate in the second half of 2023 as we start to see the full benefits of paid sharing plus continued steady growth in our ad-supported plan," said Netflix.

For Q3, the company forecasts revenue of $8.5 billion, up 7 per cent year over year.

"We anticipate Q3 paid net adds will be similar to Q2 paid net additions," it added.

Netflix said it is working to improve its monetisation through initiatives like paid sharing and advertising.

"Beginning today, we'll start to address account sharing between households in almost all of our remaining countries.

"In these markets, we're not offering an extra member option given that we've recently cut prices in a good number of these countries (for example, Indonesia, Croatia, Kenya, and India) and penetration is still relatively low in many of them so we have plenty of runway without creating additional complexity," the company elaborated.

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