Netflix CEO Reed Hastings at a presentation in France early last year
In the past year, Netflix has gained 37 million subscribers. The company has also reached the milestone of more than 200 million users. Like other streaming platforms, the company is benefiting from people who spend a lot of time at home because of the corona pandemic.
The annual turnover amounted to 20 billion euros. The growth was greatest at the beginning of the year, but despite this, more than 8 million new subscribers were added in the last three months of 2020, possibly driven by the Christmas period when people were even more at home.
To celebrate the milestone, the company has sent employees champagne and confetti, according to The Wall Street Journal. Everyone works from home and a large staff party is not possible due to the corona restrictions.
100 million households see The Crown
Netflix is doing so well financially that the company does not expect to have to borrow money for day-to-day operations. It is expected to remain in debt of about 8 to 12 billion euros, it writes in a letter to shareholders.
The fourth season of The Crown was the most important season for Netflix so far. More than 100 million households have now seen the series. Also costume drama Bridgerton is listed as popular series, as well as the French-language series Lupine.
Netflix says many productions are running again. “We have learned that flexibility and adaptability are very important in this rapidly changing environment.” The company has 500 titles in production or coming soon to the platform.
Competition is growing
In the letter to shareholders, which first discusses how difficult and tough the past year has been, it is further stated, among other things, that competition has increased. “We’ve seen this coming for years,” the company says.
Disney, in particular, is becoming a formidable opponent. That media conglomerate announced in December that Disney + now has 87 million subscribers. It then also announced that it would also produce more Marvel and Star Wars series.
Disney is by no means the only company competing with Netflix. Platforms from Apple, WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal are also entering the streaming video market. A consequence of this is that the supply is increasingly fragmented.
