Netflix Added 8 Million Subscribers in Q2 2024, Now at Nearly 278 Million
The world’s largest streamer has increased its United States and Canadian subscribers by 8.5 million over the past year.
Transparency about Netflix’s global subscriber total is getting closer and closer to disappearing. The company has pledged to stop sharing quarterly subscriber updates in 2025, but until then, the public will still have access to the data in Netflix’s earnings reports. The streamer revealed its second quarter 2024 earnings data after the markets closed on Thursday, July 18, and as part of the report, Netflix said it added 8.05 million subscribers, bringing its new global total to 277.65 million. It’s another hefty jump from last quarter, which Netflix finished with 269.6 million customers.
Zooming in, Netflix added 1.45 million customers in the United States and Canada, raising its UCAN total to 84.11 million, an increase of 8.5 million year-over-year. That makes for nine straight quarters of consecutive growth in the region. Internationally, Netflix gained 2.83 million in the Asia-Pacific region to hit a new mark of 50.32M. In Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the streamer added 2.24 million to grow its customer base to 93.96 million in the region. In Latin America, Netflix now sits at 49.25M subscribers, up 1.53 from the previous quarter.
From a revenue standpoint, Netflix continued to strengthen its bottom line. The streamer brought in $9.7 billion during the quarter, an increase of 13.9% year-over-year. Operating income rose $2.73 billion. After consecutive quarters of subscriber losses in 2022, Netflix has regained its footing over the past two years with a pair of shrewd moves that at one point seemed unfathomable for the streaming giant.
First, Netflix introduced an ad-supported subscription plan late in 2022, and while it took a while for the plan to take hold with customers, it now is showing significant results. Netflix reported that it saw 34% ad-tier subscriber growth quarter-over-quarter, and that is likely in no small part due to its second major change.
In mid-2023, Netflix announced how it was going to begin enforcing rules against password sharing. While there was expected dismay from customers, Netflix is considered so vital to many homes’ entertainment menus that instead of forcing people away from the service, it has instead led to significant gains for the company, especially in the United States. Following the streaming surge in the first two quarters of 2020, when the world was still dealing with pandemic-related lockdowns, Netflix added only 1.32 million customers in the United States and Canada from Q3 2020 through Q2 2023.
However, since the password-sharing rules went into effect in May 2023, UCAN has seen an additional 9.71 million households sign up for the service. Globally, that number comes in at 45.14 million during the same six quarters. The lower-priced ad-supported option appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of Netflix users who previously had used someone else’s credentials to stream.
In the company’s continued efforts move people to its ad-supported plan — which generates more revenue than ad-free options — Netflix confirmed in letter to shareholders that it would begin the elimination of the Basic plan for existing customers in the United States. That process is already underway in the United Kingdom and Canada, and the option was scrubbed for new customers last summer.
What Was Netflix Up to in the Second Quarter?
It was a busy spring for the world’s largest streaming service. It began the quarter by informing customers that its cheapest ad-free plan, dubbed the “Basic” plan, would no longer be available to existing subscribers in the coming months. Customers in Canada and the United Kingdom began receiving notifications this summer that they would have to choose another plan or lose their Netflix access.
That news was likely not received warmly by customers on that specific plan, but some new content additions likely helped the streamer win back their affection. Netflix announced a three-year deal with the NFL in May, which will allow the service to stream live NFL games on Christmas Day for each of the next three seasons, starting this year. The deal brings more marquee, live events to the streamer as it takes increasing steps away from its on-demand heritage. It also allows Netflix to partner with the most popular product on TV in the U.S. to broadcast live games for the first time in history.
Xfinity customers got access to a new product that includes Netflix during the second quarter. In late May, Xfinity began offering its StreamSaver bundle of Netflix, Peacock, and Apple TV+ to its TV and internet customers for just $15 per month. The bundle should help Netflix steer more customers to its ad-supported plan, which generates more revenue than ad-free plans do.
On the content side, the biggest story from Netflix was a new licensing deal with AMC that will see 15 AMC-created titles begin streaming on Netflix in August. On the user experience side, the streamer plans to roll out a major overhaul of its home screen, which should be ready for customers by the end of 2024.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.