Netflix crosses 200 million subscribers, Q4 2020 nets 8.5 million
What's the story
Netflix, the revolutionary on-demand media streaming service, has surpassed an impressive milestone of 203.6 million subscribers. The achievement comes on the heels of a spectacular 2020, where the COVID-19 lockdowns led to a surge in streaming content consumption. This resulted in massive subscriber gains during the first half of last year. The company added 8.5 million paid subscribers in the last quarter of 2020.
Tempering expectations
Netflix doesn't expect to replicate impressive 2020 performance
The service managed to generate $25 billion in annual revenues during the last year, thanks to a record-breaking 37 million new paid subscriptions. The company, however, doesn't bet on replicating similar growth rate in 2021. Case in point: It expects to add 6.1 million subscribers this quarter, which is a far cry from the 15.8 million it netted in the same quarter last year.
Original productions
Netflix Originals continue to rake in eyeballs by the millions
In addition to licensing movies and TV shows, Netflix is also one of the biggest production houses in the world. The service has produced some of the most popular movies and series in recent times. Dubbed as Netflix Originals, the in-house productions include Stranger Things, Ozark, The Crown, and The Queen's Gambit. The latter alone reached 62 million households within the first month.
Solid performance
Netflix continues to grow despite raising subscription cost
Netflix has shown impressive gains despite increasing subscription prices. The growing pains of handling a large production house and shoring up infrastructure forced it to make its most subscribed plans more expensive in Q4 2020. The company offset that decision by promising to add one new movie every week. The gambit paid off given the stunning subscription growth recorded in the same quarter.
Disney Plus
Netflix faces stiff competition from rival streaming platforms
However, Netflix isn't the only player in the streaming space. Maintaining the same growth trajectory won't be easy with stiff competition from rivals such as Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Disney++. Disney's streaming service has added 73.7 million subscribers within its first year thanks to hit shows such as The Mandalorian. That's almost twice the subscriber acquisition rate as Netflix for the same year.