Netflix has gotten some good economic results in the first quarter of 2023 Despite the implementation of its controversial strategy to monetize shared passwords. In this first publication of results since co-founder Reed Hastings stepped down as CEOthe company has been satisfied with the new basic plan with announcements and they have announced for Canada and Spain two improvements that they had already implemented in the United States.
from this month the standard plan with ads brings some of its features on par with the standard ad-free plan and it includes a 1080p video quality compared to the 720p it offered up to now and will allow simultaneous viewing of content on two devices. With these changes, Netflix “wants to make its offer more attractive to a large number of consumers and also intends to reinforce the commitment of current subscribers to the ad-supported plan.”
On the other hand, these changes match the offer announced by Warner Bros. Discovery for its new streaming service Max (replacing HBO Max) which, after disembarking in the United States, will arrive in Europe in 2024.
The controversial measure to restrict shared passwords for free will also continue on its way. As reflected in the letter to investors, the satisfaction with this new policy implemented in Canada, New Zealand, Spain and Portugal will lead Ted Sarandos’ company to generalize the measure in the second quarter. A movement that they believe will “delay the achievement of the target number of subscribers and profits to the third quarter”, since wherever they have announced the restriction on sharing passwords, they have experienced cancellations that hinder the growth of users in the short term. For the implementation of the measure in the United Statesthe company has explained that it takes as an example the case of Canada where the base of paying subscribers is greater than before implementing the monetization of shared passwords and revenues are growing in the short term.
With these figures and forecasts, Netflix is optimistic for the remainder of the year and plans to meet the goals of 2023. For the second quarter, the goal is to reach “revenues of 8,200 million dollars.”
