Netflix Global Subscribers Hit 247 million

Netflix, streaming giant, now has a total of 247 million global paying households.

The company’s third quarter revealed this. It also has 8.76 million new paid memberships worldwide, which is a 10.8% year-on-year increase. It’s also the most significant quarterly net addition since its impressive surge in Q2 2020, when Netflix welcomed 10.1 million subscribers within three months as people stayed home during the pandemic.

WARC report that the streamer claimed it was able to “generate higher engagement than competitors”. In the US, Netflix’s share of TV screen time was 8% in September, ahead of all streamers except YouTube. Its ads plan continues to grow as the company reinforces its ambition to “scale this business”: ads plan subscriptions increased 70% quarter-on-quarter. In countries where ad plans are available, one-third of the signups on average went to the ads plan.

Although no exact ad-subscribers numbers were shared, during a virtual upfronts event in May this year, Netflix disclosed nearly five million users signed up for its ad tiers. Brian Wieser from Madison and Wall estimates that its percentage of ad subscribers would account for single digits, and the share of its ad-supported viewing will be even lower due to Netflix’s lighter ad load.

Ahead of major streaming companies releasing their Q3 earnings and guidance for the last quarter of 2023, the Gauge by Nielsen revealed that US streaming viewing overall declined for the second month in a row, despite still accounting for more than one-third of all video viewing. Suits – only recently licensed by and debuted on Netflix – triumphed in US video consumption with 8 billion minutes in September, an achievement mentioned by both Nielsen and Netflix.

Broadcast TV viewing increased almost 13% in the past month, with the return of sports matches in the US; the other major streamer that benefited was Prime Video, which saw a 7.5% increase in viewership thanks to NFL Thursday Night Football. Nielsen forecasts sports – particularly the new NHL and NBA seasons – will remain a major factor for video consumption in the coming terms which could affect TV viewing behaviour.

Netflix recently announced several ad format changes, including the launch of live sports sponsorship and single-title sponsorships, as well as a “binge” product, enabling advertisers to tap into ad-tier subscribers’ binge-watching habits.

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