Netflix strengthened its position at the forefront of the paid streaming sector, as the number of its subscribers worldwide reached 204 million at the end of 2020, and this year witnessed favorable conditions for it due to the Covid pandemic - 19 and the general closing measures, despite increased competition and the recent increase in their prices.
The platform announced, Tuesday, that the number of new subscribers to it during the past year reached 37 million, including 8.5 million in the last quarter of the year, indicating that it will continue to gain additional market shares, even at a lower rate than last spring.
Netflix does not intend to be satisfied with this limit. "The United States is the market with the best penetration" for the platform, group president Reed Hastings noted during a meeting with analysts, but noted that it "represents only 10 percent of the time viewers spend in front of the TV screen."
The company said it had nearly doubled its subscribers within two years, from 111 million in early 2018 to 203.7 million in late 2020, while average revenue per subscription grew from $ 9.88 to $ 11.02.
Netflix also did not hesitate to raise its prices in Canada and then in the United States in the last quarter, despite competition from free or cheaper platforms, such as Disney Plus.
The group confirmed in its earnings statement that it is "on the verge of achieving a financial surplus," adding, "We believe that we no longer need external investments to finance our daily operations."
Netflix´s share price jumped by more than 10 percent on Wall Street during electronic trading after the stock exchange closed.
The California-based company recorded in the fourth credit of 2020 net income of $ 542 million, which is $ 40 million less than last year, while its revenues reached $ 6.6 billion, an increase of 21.5 percent.
The platform, like other giant technology companies, greatly benefited from the restrictions imposed in 2020 on movement in various countries of the world as part of the measures aimed at containing the epidemic.
However, the past year also witnessed the sector reaching a maturity stage, as a number of new direct competitors who also benefited from the stone entered the market, including "Apple TV Plus" and "HPO Max" and especially "Disney Plus", which exceeded the number of subscribers in a year One is 85 million.
And Hastings said that "what Disney has accomplished is impressive," considering that the competition between it and "Netflix" is "wonderful for the whole world." "We are doing everything we have in terms of animation, and we will try to catch up with Disney and even surpass it in this field, while maintaining our superiority in the entertainment field in general. It is very motivating," he added.
Netflix also stressed that it considers itself in competition with traditional television, video games, and social networks such as YouTube, TikTok and Twitch. In her statement, she confirmed that she is continuing "serious work" to increase her share of the time the audience spends in front of the screen "against these major competitors."
Netflix´s plan for 2021 includes no less than 70 films with a large number of stars, including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson ("Fast and Furious" and "Jumanji"), Gal Gadot ("Wonder Woman 1984"), Regina King and Adrian. Brody, Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock, Octavia Spencer, Jeremy Irons, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence.
The group´s co-CEO, Ted Sarandos, confirmed during the conference that the number "will definitely be over 70". "The appetite is there, and we have a global audience with very diverse tastes," he added.
More than 80 percent of the additional subscriptions in 2020 come from countries outside North America.
Eric Hagstrom, an analyst at eMarketer, considered that 2020 was the "best year" for "Netflix", and expected that it would achieve "greater growth in 2021" thanks to the works that it intends to provide on the platform. He described it as "the biggest winner so far in the streaming battle."
Netflix expects that the first quarter of this year will witness the joining of six million new subscribers.
"The pandemic has accelerated the transition from traditional television to streaming, so the signs are good in the long term," said Group Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann.
