Pandemic has hit human race and the economy badly but it proved as a boon for Netflix because due to COVID 19 crisis, film production and theater releases came to halt but Netflix managed to release original animated movies, series and live-action features from all around the world to keep the audience entertained and connected.
Earlier on Tuesday, Netflix released its Q2 2021 earning portfolio which showed that revenue has increased 19 per cent YoY to $7.3 billion, while operating income rose 36 per cent YoY to $1.8 billion. The company added 1.54 million users to finish the quarter with over 209 million paid memberships slightly ahead of their one million guidance forecast
Netflix said in a statement, “COVID has created some lumpiness in our membership growth (higher growth in 2020, slower growth this year), which is working its way through. We continue to focus on improving our service for our members and bringing them the best stories from around the world.”
Netflix said its revenue growth this past quarter came from an 11 per cent increase in average paid streaming memberships and eight per cent growth in average revenue per membership.
The streamer also forecasts for Q3 2021 and stated, “We forecast paid net additions of 3.5million vs. 2.2 million in the prior year period. If we achieve our forecast, we will have added more than 54 million paid net adds over the past 24 months or 27 million on an annualised basis over that time period, which is consistent with our pre-COVID annual rate of net additions.”
Netflix also reveals the viewing data of movies, series titles which performed well and topped the charts with its mega viewership.
Q2 also featured biggest Netflix animated film to date with 53 million member households chose to watch The Mitchells vs. The Machines while previous Netflix original animated features Over The Moon and The Willoughbys racked up 43 million and 38 million in the same time period, respectively.
The fantasy series Shadow and Bone based on the popular Grishaverse book series, proved to be very popular with over 55 million member households chose to watch this show in its first 28 days of the film’s streaming release.
Sweet Tooth, based on the beloved DC comic, was another hit series with 60 million member households watched this title in its first four weeks of release.
Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead was a blockbuster as 75 million member households chose to watch this action packed zombie spectacle in its first 28 days of release. As an extension to Army of the Dead, a prequel, Army of Thieves, will be released in Q4’21 along with a spinoff anime series later in 2022.
Fatherhood, a dramedy starring Kevin Hart, was another hit, which drawn an estimated 74 million member households in its first 28 days.
Last week, Netflix series and specials received 129 Emmy nominations. With 24 nominations, The Crown tied for the most nominated series. Bridgerton with 12 nominations was also nominated for Best Drama series while The Queen’s Gambit received 18 nominations including Best Limited Series. Cobra Kai, Emily In Paris and the finale season of The Kominsky Method were all nominated for Best Comedy series.
Netflix Q3 slate will include new seasons of fan favorites La Casa de Papel (aka Money Heist), Sex Education, Virgin River and Never Have I Ever as well as live action films including Sweet Girl (starring Jason Momoa), Kissing Booth 3, and Kate (starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and the animated feature film Vivo, featuring all-new songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The streamer also announced that potential games will be included in Netflix subscriptions at no additional cost, initially the focus will be on mobile games.
According to Nielsen study Netflix is still very much in the early days of the transition from linear to on-demand consumption of entertainment. Streaming represents just 27 per cent of US TV screen time, compared with 63 per cent for linear television. It also estimates that streamer is just seven percent of US TV screen time.
