Netflix Q3 Earnings Highlights: Subscriber Gain, Revenue Beat And A Mind-Boggling 'Squid Game' Metric

Streaming giant Netflix Inc NFLX reported third-quarter earnings after market close Tuesday. Here is a look at the highlights and what’s to come next.

What Happened: Netflix reported third-quarter revenue of $7.48 billion. The company reported earnings of $3.19 per share, which beat the Street consensus of $2.56 for the quarter. Revenue was up 16% year-over-year.

The company added 4.4 million net subscribers, ending the quarter with 214 million paid subscribers.

“After a lighter-than-normal content slate in Q1 and Q2 due to COVID-related production delays in 2020, we are seeing the positive effects of a stronger slate in the second half of the year,” the company said in its release.

Netflix reported a net gain in subscribers for the UCAN region, after the second saw a year-over-year decline. The APAC region grew subscribers by 4% year-over-year and it was the strongest region for membership gains for the second consecutive quarter.

Netflix said it will shift to reporting on hours viewed for titles instead of number of accounts going forward.

The streaming giant reported it had 6% market share of total U.S. TV time, compared to competitors like Hulu at 3%, Amazon.com Inc AMZN Prime at 2% and Disney+ from Walt Disney Co DIS at 1%. YouTube from Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL was tied at 6% market share.

Related Link: Squid Game Mania Takes Over: What It Could Mean For Netflix And This Apparel Stock 

Content Slate: Netflix said “Money Heist” and “Sex Education” were the biggest returning shows in the quarter and were watched by 69 million and 55 million respective member households.

“Maid,” which was released on Oct. 1 in the fourth quarter, has been watched by 67 million households since its release.

Squid Game” has been a big story for Netflix in recent weeks. Netflix said it has become the company’s biggest TV show ever.

“A mind-boggling 142 million member households globally have chosen to watch the title in its first four weeks," the company said.

“Squid Game” has been ranked as the number one program in 94 countries, including the U.S. Netflix also highlighted the company being a pop culture hit with TikTok clips, a reference on “Saturday Night Live” and heavy demand for consumer products related to the show.

On the movie side, “Sweet Girl” starring Jason Momoa has been watched by 68 million households. “Kissing Booth 3” was watched by 59 million households.

The fourth quarter will see new content from top hits like “The Witcher,” “You,” “Tiger King” and “Cobra Kai.”

What’s Next: The company is guiding for fourth-quarter net subscriber additions of 8.5 million, which would be on par with last year’s fourth quarter net additions.

“We’re very excited to finish the year with what we expect to be our strongest Q4 content offering yet,” the company said.

Netflix is estimating fourth-quarter revenue to hit $7.71 billion.

NFLX Price Action: Shares are up 1% to $643.61 in after-hours trading Tuesday.

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