Netflix delivered a big earnings beat for the first quarter on Thursday, and its report looked a little bit different this time.
Gone were any specific numbers on quarterly subscription numbers, a change the streaming giant had previously announced.
The company’s revenue was $10.54 billion, slightly beating analyst expectations. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected revenue of $10.5 billion.
Operating income was $3.3 billion, higher than Bloomberg’s estimate of $3 billion. Earnings per share were $6.61, a big beat over analysts’ estimates of $5.68.
The streaming service’s shares were 3% higher in after-hours trading.
The company didn’t change its guidance for 2025. It still expects revenue of between $43.5 billion and $44.5 billion for the year, as well as an operating margin of 29%.
Netflix has added more new subscribers than analysts expected in recent quarters, in part thanks to new policies aimed at reducing password sharing. That’s pushed many who might have been using credentials from a friend or family member to start paying for their own account.
Starting with Thursday’s report, though, Netflix is no longer providing quarterly updates on how many new subscribers it logged.
“The streaming land grab era is dead for good,” said Ross Benes, an analyst at Business Insider’s sister company, EMARKETER, after the company reported earnings.
“Netflix got ahead of the story by eliminating its quarterly subscriber update just as password sharing gains were set to decline and the outlook on subscriber increases appeared stale,” Benes said.
Instead, Wall Street analysts were looking for details about ad sales as well as Netflix’s plans for sports and creator content to judge how the company is doing. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said Thursday that video podcasts could be the next format to appear on the service.
His comments confirmed earlier reporting by Business Insider that Netflix was exploring potential deals with video podcasters.
Advertising has been one area where Netflix is trying to expand and compete with the likes of Amazon. Netflix launched its ad tech platform on April 1, it said in its earnings announcement on Thursday, and is “on track to roll it out in our remaining ads countries in the coming months.”
Despite worries about an economic slowdown, Netflix isn’t seeing ad buyers cut back, co-CEO Greg Peters said on the company’s earnings call.
Netflix reportedly has big growth plans: It’s targeting a market cap of $1 trillion by 2030, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
“On rare and very disappointing occasions, our confidential and internal discussions can leak into the press,” Sarandos said on the company’s call, referring to the Journal’s report. He said it’s important to note that internal discussions about goals are different than official company guidance.
Netflix’s stock has outperformed the broader indexes and other major technology stocks so far this year.
Viewers are likely to keep watching Netflix programming — or even consume more of it — if the US slips into recession, some analysts have said.
Speaking to wider economic pressures, Peters said consumers have kept spending on entertainment.
“Netflix specifically also has been generally quite resilient, and we haven’t seen any major impacts during those tougher times,” he said.
