Netflix now has 83.18 million subscribers after adding just 160,000 subscribers in the U.S. and 1.52 million abroad last quarter, missing the modest expectations it set back in April. The company blamed its sluggish growth on an unexpected uptick in churn, possibly due to the company’s decision to end grandfathered prices for longtime users.
Three months ago, Netflix predicted it would add about 2 million new subscribers internationally and 500,000 in the U.S. (a total of 84 million) during this past quarter (Q2 2016).
The streaming giant reported $2.11 billion in revenue and $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter. Analysts had expected the company to report about $2.11 billion in revenue and $0.03 earnings per share.
Investors, meanwhile, simply want reassurance that Netflix will continue growing despite increasing competition from Amazon. Netflix expanded into 130 additional countries in January to speed up its international growth, but the high-profile launch was obstructed by regional licensing restrictions and China’s censorship laws. Maybe Netflix’s Star Trek deal will win over International subscribers? Its latest arrangement with Disney, limited to the U.S., certainly won’t.
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Looking ahead to third quarter, analysts expected Netflix to add 774,000 subscribers in the U.S. and 2.85 million abroad, CNBC writes. However, today Netflix tossed a bucket of cold water on those estimates: The company says it expects to add 300,000 U.S. subscribers and 2 million abroad in Q3.
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