After a weak showing at the beginning of the year, Netflix is back on top. The company has reported strong earnings for this year's second quarter.
It was estimated that Netflix's subscriber base would grow by 3.23 million, but the company surpassed that number by about 2 million adding a total of 5.2 million members. In total, Netflix has roughly 100 million subscribers making it the largest streaming service in the world. It still lags behind HBO, which includes both its cable and streaming service members in its estimates.
In terms of cash flow, Netflix brought home $2.785 billion in revenue during this quarter. In terms of sheer profits, the company also did fairly well, making $66 million. This about a 50 percent increase over the same period last year.
New Content Leads The Way
Over the past few years, Netflix has grown from a simple streaming service to a service that can compete with traditional TV studios by providing original content such as Orange is the New Black and Stranger Things. In a letter to investors, Netflix reported that its varied content is the key to the company's growth and long-term success.
"The volume and breadth of our releases in Q2 exemplify our commitment to serve the desires of our diverse and growing audience," the letter said. "We premiered 14 new seasons of global Netflix original series, 13 original comedy specials, 6 original documentaries, 2 original documentary series, 9 original feature films and 7 seasons of original series for kids."
Judging by the metric of original content, we expect that next quarter will also be a strong one for Netflix. August will see the launch of Marvel's Defenders and October, just in time for Halloween, will mark the premiere of the second season of the Emmy-nominated Stranger Things.
Speaking of original content, Netflix isn't aiming to only take on the cable industry. They also have their sights set on Hollywood.
"We understand that our approach to films - debuting movies on Netflix first - is counter to Hollywood's century-old windowing tradition. But just as we changed and reinvented the TV business by putting consumers first and making access to content more convenient, we believe internet TV can similarly reinvigorate the film business (as distinct from the theatrical business)."
We don't know what the future holds for Netflix, but assuming they continue to produce strong original content, we imagine things will continue to go well for the company. Assuming, of course, they avoid major missteps such as a rebranding or controversial price hikes.
