LOS GATOS, CA – Netflix recorded the highest quarterly paid net additions in its history, adding 9.6 million new subscribers in the first quarter of 2019.
The streaming giant said late Tuesday that its worldwide customer base now stands at 148.9 million overall after signing 1.74 million new subs in the U.S. and 7.86 million internationally. The 16% increase year-over-year was ahead of its internal forecasts and set a new quarterly record.
“For 20 years, we’ve had the same strategy: when we please our members, they watch more and we grow more,” read the note to shareholders that included its Q1 results.
Netflix said that it continues to see “big successes” across its programming categories, noting that Umbrella Academy, based on the comic book by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, has been watched by 45 million member households in its first four weeks; original film Triple Frontier, starring Ben Affleck, has garnered over 52 million views in its first month, and that The Highwaymen, starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson, is on track to notch 40 million views in its first month. In addition, documentary feature FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened has been watched by over 20 million member households in its first four weeks on the service, and nature doc Our Planet is tracking to be one of its most successful global documentary series launches yet, with over 25 million member households projected to watch in the first month of release.
Non-English language originals continue to be successful as well, adds the note, including its first large scale Korean original series Kingdom, and Spanish-language original film Durante la Tormenta (aka Mirage), which Netflix said has seen broad viewing across the world.
It also highlighted its slate of global content premiering in the second half of the year, including new seasons of Stranger Things (July 4), 13 Reasons Why, Orange Is The New Black, The Crown, and Money Heist (La Casa de Papel) as well as Michael Bay’s Six Underground and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman.
Acknowledging the pending arrival of Apple and Disney’s own direct-to-consumer subscription video services, Netflix said that it is “excited to compete”.
“We don’t anticipate that these new entrants will materially affect our growth because the transition from linear to on demand entertainment is so massive and because of the differing nature of our content offerings”, continues the note. “We believe we’ll all continue to grow as we each invest more in content and improve our service and as consumers continue to migrate away from linear viewing (similar to how US cable networks collectively grew for years as viewing shifted from broadcast networks during the 1980s and 1990s).”
For the quarter, Netflix said that total revenue increased 22% year-over-year to $4.5 billion, and net income grew to $334 million from $290 million in the same period last year.
Netflix added that it is seeking a new chief marketing officer to replace Kelly Bennett who is retiring this year after a seven year run.
