Netflix Bounces Back in Q3 With 2.4 Million Subscriber Gain, Issues Upbeat Q4 Forecast but Doesn‘t Expect ‘Material’ Lift From Ad-Plan Launch

Team high school sweethearts? Kristin Cavallari and Stephen Colletti’s former Laguna Beach costars are just like Us — with many of them shipping the exes.

Guy Ritchie is set to reunite with longtime collaborator Vinnie Jones (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch) in Netflix’s The Gentlemen, a TV series inspired by Ritchie’s 2019 Miramax film. Jones joins the cast alongside Kaya Scodalerio (Crawl), Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul), Daniel Ings (I Hate Suzie), Joely Richardson (Lady Chatterley’s Lover) and Peter Serafinowicz (The Tick).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor International TV market Mipcom came back with gusto this year, but it’s not back to the level reached at its pre-pandemic peak. A total of 10,896 delegates attended this year, which is down from the peak year of 2019, when more than 13,500 delegates came to the Cannes event. MipJunior, which ran over the weekend, had 1,311 delegates this year. In 2019, there were 1,500. There were 3,100 buyers this year, compared with more than 4,700 in 2019. The largest numbers of buyers this year came from the U.S. (442), followed by the U.K. (301), France (251), Germany (242) and Spain (140). In 2019, it was U.S. (461), U.K. (450), France (423), Germany (359) and Russia (207).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Just over three years ago, Netflix unequivocally shot down the idea that it would ever roll out an ad-supported streaming service. “When you read speculation that we are moving into selling advertising, be confident that this is false,” the streamer said in its second-quarter 2019 investor letter. “We believe we will have a more valuable business in the long term by staying out of competing for ad revenue and instead entirely focusing on competing for viewer satisfaction.” Clearly, Netflix’s thinking about advertising has changed. Both Netflix and Disney+ are launching ad-based tiers this fall, seeking to broaden their addressable markets and tap into a new revenue stream as subscriber growth has slowed — in Netflix’s case, it lost 1.2 million in the first half of 2022, compared with a net gain of 5.5 million in the prior-year period.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Despite rumors to the contrary, Netflix says it has no plans to stop dropping all episodes of a TV show at once for binge-friendly viewing. “We think our bingeable release model helps drive substantial engagement, especially for newer titles,” Netflix said in its Q3 shareholder letter, as part of announcing quarterly results Tuesday. “This enables viewers to lose themselves in stories they love.” The company’s comments come after the Puck newsletter last month reported that Netflix execs were mulling a change to binge strategy and release major titles on a weekly schedule. Netflix, which pioneered the practice of binge-releasing TV seasons in their entirety, said it’s sticking with that game plan.

Netflix is spending around $17B on content this year and next but has hinted that it may boost this after a strong quarter.

In a third-quarter earnings interview dominated by talk of advertising, top Netflix execs described it as a “sprint” to capture “a whole new audience” and a bid to woo advertisers affected by “the collapse of linear television.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix will no longer share projected subscriber targets in upcoming earnings reports — a closely tracked metric among investors — as the company looks to shift the narrative to its financial performance. Starting with Netflix’s fourth-quarter 2022 earnings report in January 2023, it will not provide guidance for the next quarter (Q1 of 2023). The company will continue to provide guidance for revenue, operating income, operating margin, net income, EPS and fully diluted shares outstanding for the following quarter, but not paid membership. Click here to sign up for Variety’s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial news, and more. “As discussed in previous letters, we are increasingly focused on revenue as our primary top-line metric,” Netflix said in its Q3 shareholder letter. “This will become particularly important heading into 2023 as we develop new revenue streams like advertising and paid sharing, where membership is just one component of our revenue growth.”

last quarter that it would add 1 million subscribers, and it now sits at 223.09 million global subscribers. But Netflix also is looking up for the fourth quarter after moving up the launch of its ad-supported pricing tier to November, having unveiled the details of the cheaper plan that starts at as low as $6.99/month earlier in October, and it further suspects that it will reach 227.57 million for Q4. “After a challenging first half, we believe we’re on a path to reaccelerate growth.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In his first leading feature role, Drew Ray Tanner (“Riverdale”) will star in “Boot Camp,” a film adaptation of the hugely popular Wattpad story by Gina Musa of the same name. The romantic comedy tells the body-empowerment story of notoriously unathletic Whitney Carmichael, played by Rachel Boudwin, who begins to fall for her off-limits personal trainer, Axel (Tanner), after signing up for an intense summer boot camp to reinvent herself. A deepening connection inspires her to let go of the others’ expectations and, instead, find the strength to embrace her true self. Wattpad Webtoon Studios announced that production has wrapped on “Boot Camp” after filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, earlier this month. The movie does not yet have distribution deals. “Boot Camp,” which currently has over 26 million reads on Wattpad, was developed with Great Pacific Media, December Films, Junction Hammer Productions and Channel Zero Studios.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix wants to make it as simple as possible for people who have been using someone else’s account — possibly in violation of the company’s terms of use — to set up a separate paid membership. On Monday, Netflix is launching Profile Transfer, a feature that lets anyone on an existing account migrate their profile to a brand-new account while preserving all of their personalized recommendations, viewing history, My List, saved games and other settings. Profile Transfer, which Netflix says has been “much requested” by customers, will roll out to all members worldwide starting Monday. Users will be notified by email when Profile Transfer becomes available on their account.

Bolton Wanderers will be seeking to return to winning ways this weekend with the visit of Barnsley.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After years of Netflix execs spurning the idea of serving up commercials to viewers, the streaming giant is flipping the switch on its first cheaper, ad-supported plan next month. Netflix Basic With Ads will launch in the U.S. on Nov. 3 at 9 a.m. PT, priced at $6.99 per month, the company announced. The cheaper plan will be available in 12 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. It will first roll out in Canada and Mexico on Nov. 1. Basic With Ads will be $2 cheaper than Netflix’s Basic plan ($9.99/month in the U.S. currently), which provides the ability to stream on one device at a time. Previously, the Basic plan has not supported HD, but with the launch of the ad tier, Netflix will provide video quality of up to 720p HD for both Basic With Ads and the plan with no ads.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Beach (Dahmer: Monster), Joshua Colley (Senior Year) and Lindsey Gort (All Rise) have joined the cast of Dead Boy Detectives, HBO Max’s upcoming drama series based on the DC Comics characters created by Neil Gaiman, in key recurring roles. The series hails from The Flight Attendant’s Steve Yockey, Doom Patrol’s Jeremy Carver, Berlanti Productions, and Warner Bros. Television. Beach, Colley and Gort join series stars George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri and Kassius Nelson.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix has taken peak TV to a new peak. In a data point sure to fuel more quantity-versus-quality debate, Netflix broke its own record for number of original episodes released in a single quarter — with 1,026 in the third quarter of 2022, according to a tally by Wall Street firm MoffettNathanson. That’s more than five times any other streaming rival: Amazon Prime Video and Hulu released 223 and 194 episodes, respectively, and Disney+ debuted 140 original episodes, per the report. HBO Max, now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, released 114 episodes in the third quarter — significantly fewer episodes than usual and comprising the lightest slate for the service since Q2 2020, the second quarter after launch. WBD has been paring back HBO Max’s content slate in recent months as it looks to cut costs.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix fans continue to flock to binge-watch “Dahmer,” the unsettling drama series starring Evan Peters as the infamous killer cannibal, in record numbers. Ryan Murphy’s “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” topped Netflix’s English TV Top 10 list for the third week in a row, with 205.33 million hours viewed for the week of Oct. 3-9. That means the limited series is now Netflix’s second most popular English-language series of all time in its initial release, with 701.37 million hours watched, behind only “Stranger Things 4,” which was watched 1.35 billion hours in its first 28 days. “Dahmer” has now garnered more watch-time than seasons 1 and 2 of Shonda Rhimes’ “Bridgerton” in their first four weeks on the service.

Jeffrey Dahmer victim Tony Hughes, has spoken out against the Netflix series,, which depicts the serial killer’s murders. “I don’t see how they can use our names and put stuff out like that out there,” she said. In an interview with the , Shirley, now 85, has joined the growing number of relatives who have slammed Ryan Murphy’s dramatization starring Evan Peters as the gruesome killer who murdered 17 men and teenage boys over 13 years.