The onset of October means that streaming platforms around the industry will soon be reporting how many customers they’ve added in the past 12 months. Disney is likely feeling the strain, as the pressure is on to show that it has done something to stem three straight quarters of subscriber losses.

• Netflix is expected to officially release its third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
• Antenna is projecting the company will see a healthy subscriber increase.
• Users are more frequently opting for Netflix’s ad-supported plan.

Netflix isn’t experiencing those kinds of anxieties, at least not this week. The world’s largest streamer is expected to remain the world’s largest streamer by a comfortable margin if data released by Antenna ahead of Netflix’s quarterly earnings report is any indication.

Gross Versus Net

Antenna’s data shows that Netflix has accrued nearly 6.7 million gross subscriber additions in the third quarter of 2023. Those numbers don’t reflect churn, so the net gains that Netflix reports in its official earnings statement later this week will likely be far smaller, but it’s still an impressive total overall. Netflix nabbed a 15% market share in gross streaming additions in September 2023, showing that users who were formerly accessing the streamer free using a paying customer’s login are continuing to convert to paid subscribers themselves.

Netflix began cracking down on users sharing passwords in May of 2023 in the United States, requiring customers to log into the service monthly from their homes and informing any users outside of that location who tried to access the account that they would have to purchase their own subscription instead.

Standard With Ads on the Upswing?

As of September, Antenna’s data shows that 5.75% of Netflix users are now signed up for its ad-supported streaming plan. That number is still not as high as the streamer would like it to be, but it is improving; Antenna projects that the Standard with Ads plan accounted for between 28-30% of new sign-ups in the quarter. Q3 was the first in which Netflix no longer offered its cheapest ad-free plan to new subscribers.
As Antenna’s graph shows, that tactic has led to a marked upswing in the number of users signing up for the ad-supported Netflix option.

The company makes more money per customer from its ad tier than it does from ad-free customers, despite the difference in price between the two options. Netflix will partially remedy this disparity by raising prices for ad-free streaming in the next few months.

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Netflix

Netflix is a leading subscription-based video streaming service that offers on-demand access to an extensive library of over 3,000 movies, 2,000+ TV shows, and a growing collection of acclaimed Netflix originals. Renowned for producing groundbreaking content, Netflix has become a cultural powerhouse with hit originals like “Stranger Things,” “Wednesday,” “Squid Game,” “The Crown,” “Tiger King,” “Bridgerton,” “The Witcher,” and “Black Mirror.”

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The platform constantly updates its catalog, introducing fresh content alongside timeless classics and international hits. Netflix’s commitment to storytelling has also earned critical acclaim, with award-winning exclusives such as “Roma,” “Marriage Story,” “The Power of the Dog,” “Mank,” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” In 2023, their animated film “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, further solidifying Netflix’s reputation for high-quality content.

Recently, Netflix has expanded beyond standard movies and TV titles with the addition of video podcasts, and is also exploring a digital store that would offer third-party streamers within the app.

Netflix offers three plans – stream on 2 devices in HD with the “Standard with Ads” ($8.99) plan, on 2 devices in HD with the “Standard” ($19.99) plan, and 4 devices in up to 4K on the “Premium” ($26.99) plan.

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