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Netflix added a record 19 million subscribers in the fourth quarter as viewers flocked to watch the new installment Squid game and live sporting events, including a highly hyped boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.
The increase meant Netflix it had a total of 301 million subscribers at the end of 2024, up 15 percent from a year earlier and more than the 293 million expected by Wall Street. Its shares rose more than 13 percent in after-hours trading.
Netflix said it would raise prices in the US, Canada, Portugal and Argentina. The most popular plan in the US will increase by $2.50 per month to $17.99, while its cheapest ad-supported tier in the US will increase by $1 to $7.99 per month.
“[Netflix] it is now showing its muscle by adjusting its prices in view of a far stronger and more diverse program list compared to its competitors,” said Paolo Pescatore, analyst at PP Foresight.
The streaming pioneer made a major foray into live sports in the fourth quarter, with a boxing match between Tyson and Paul attracting 65 million viewers worldwide. It aired two National Football League games on Christmas Day, one of which featured Beyoncé as the halftime performer, each reaching 24 million viewers. Netflix also presented the second season of the series Squid gamewhich reached a record 68 million views in its first week.
“We enter 2025 with strong momentum, ending the year with record net (subscriber) growth and re-accelerated growth,” the company wrote in a letter to shareholders.
It added that while the business remains “intensely competitive,” it does not have the “distractions” of managing the decline of television networks that its traditional Hollywood studio rivals are dealing with.
Fourth-quarter revenue was $10.2 billion, and the company raised its forecast for this year by $500 million, up 14 percent from 2024. Earnings per share more than doubled to $4.27 from 2, 11 dollars a year ago, and operating income exceeded 2 billion dollars, which is a growth of 52 percent.
This is the last time Netflix will report quarterly subscriber numbers, which investors have watched closely for years. But they said they would continue to release figures “as we pass key milestones”.
Its subscriber base has grown since it launched a crackdown on password sharing in May 2023, sending the stock up more than 80 percent in 2024. But the stock got off to a bad start in 2025.
Wall Street is bracing for a slowdown in subscription growth as the initiative’s initial push fades. But Netflix is betting big on live events to attract new subscribers, and this month debuted its weekly streams of WWE Raw — part of a 10-year deal with the wrestling entertainment group.
Executives said live events would help attract the audiences advertisers crave. The ad business has had a shaky start since its launch in the fall of 2022, given the weaknesses in the sector.
“A top priority in 2025 is to improve our offer for advertisers to significantly increase advertising revenue,” the shareholder letter said.
