Netflix Q2 Earnings Preview: Analysts Expect Windfall From Password-Sharing Crackdown

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has unveiled the first trailer for series “Guns & Gulaabs,” starring Dulquer Salmaan (“Chup”) and Rajkummar Rao (“Bheed”). The series is created by India-based filmmaking duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. – popularly known as Raj & DK – as part of a multi-year creative partnership with Netflix under their D2R Films banner.

EXCLUSIVE: A second major transatlantic drama series on the Lockerbie bombing terror attack is in the works — this time at the BBC and Netflix.

If you were watching Zac Efron‘s docu-series Down to Earth on The CW, you’re going to have to go to Netflix to watch the remaining episodes.

Netflix has sparked an outcry by listing a vacancy for a new $900,000-a-year product manager role for their AI Machine Learning programme in the midst of the SAG-AFTRA strike.The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) union went on strike earlier this month, after negotiations broke down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over streaming residuals and safeguards against AI technology.According to the job description, the Product Manager position will focus on “increasing the leverage of our Machine Learning Platform.” The MLP is Netflix’s in-house AI program, which has traditionally been used to power the streamer’s algorithmic recommendations. Per Netflix’s research page, the company is now making more use of the program to “optimise” film and TV production, although it’s not clear how they plan to do so.We all know one of the biggest issues both of the striking guilds, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, have with AMPTP’s offer for a new contract is a lack of protection against and regulation of AI.

Fans of “One Piece” are getting psyched for Netflix’s upcoming live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese manga series, and a new trailer and some first-look images have arrived.

Tommy Dorfman did not hold back about the low wage she received for season 1 of 13 Reasons Why — even as the series turned into a cultural phenomenon.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Shares of Netflix were down more than 8% in early trading Thursday, coming after the streamer blew away estimates on subscriber gains for the second quarter — and analysts saying the company continues to be well positioned to weather Hollywood’s double actors and writers strike relative to its peers. But investors had been anticipating a bigger bump from its new initiative to monetize password-sharing accounts. Note that Netflix’s post-earnings stock drop came amid high investor expectations leading into the Q2 report: Shares were up nearly 62% year to date in 2023. Revenue for Q2 came in at $8.19 billion, shy of Wall Street’s $8.3 billion consensus expectations. And Netflix’s guidance for Q3 revenue of $8.52 billion also was less than the $8.9 billion average forecast by analysts. The company added 5.9 million net new subs in the second quarter, more than double expectations, and said it expects to add about the same number in Q3.

Disney CEO Bob Iger already made his perspective clear about the ongoing guild strikes last week before the SAG-AFTRA one commenced. Now it’s Netflix CEO’s Ted Sarandos‘ turn.

Netflix has announced a second feature film with Indonesian action director Timo Tjahjanto, The Shadow Strays, starring a large ensemble cast of popular young actors. 

Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters said the initial verdict is in on paid password sharing — a risky but multi-billion-dollar initiative for the company — and it is positive.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix is “more than a year out” from any price increases in its major markets like the U.S. as it looks to spur revenue growth from its password-sharing crackdown, CFO Spence Neumann said. The streamer has “largely paused” price hikes after it began rolling out the paid-sharing program starting in May 2023, Neumann said on the Q2 earnings interview. “Most of our revenue growth this year is from growth in volume, through new paid memberships. And that’s largely driven by our paid-sharing rollout,” he said. “It is our primary revenue accelerator in the year.” Netflix most recently raised prices in the U.S. and other major markets in the first half of 2022, under which its Standard plan — its most popular tier, which provides two simultaneous HD streams — increased by $1.50, to $15.49 per month.

Netflix is often mentioned as an M&A player when a studio or media group is up for sale, but don’t expect the streamer to buy a major Hollywood business any time soon.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos addressed Hollywood’s dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes alongside the release of the company’s Q2 earnings results Wednesday. Sarandos said: “Let me start by making something absolutely clear: This strike is not an outcome that we want. We make deals all the time. We are constantly at the table negotiating with writers with directors with actors and producers with everyone across the industry. And we very much hoped to reach an agreement by now. So I also want to say, if I may, on a personal level, I was raised in a union household. My dad was a member of IBEW Local 640, he was a union electrician. And I remember his local because that union was very much a part of our lives when I was growing up. And I also remember on more than one occasion, my dad being out on strike. And I remember that because it takes an enormous toll on your family, financially and emotionally. You should know that nobody here, nobody within the AMPTP, and I’m sure nobody at SAG or nobody at the WGA, took any of this lightly. But we’ve got a lot of work to do there. There are a handful of complicated issues. We’re super committed to getting to an agreement as soon as possible, one that is equitable, and one that enables the industry and everybody in it to move forward into the future.

Netflix is hoping that its paid sharing option will “accelerate” revenue growth in the second half of 2023, the streamer revealed during its second quarter earnings report. This news comes in the wake of the company’s mass password crackdown. The streamer officially launched its paid sharing option in May, allowing users outside of a subscribed household to subscribe to the household’s plan for an additional monthly fee.

Netflix added 5.9 million global subscribers, reaching 238.3 million, with password sharing pushing subscribers to the months-old $7-a-month plan with advertising.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Netflix reported its second-quarter 2023 earnings Wednesday, revealing its subscribers increased by 5.89 million in the quarter ended June 30. At the end of Q1, Netflix’s global subscriber count was 232.5 million. Analysts had project the streamer gaining 1.769 million new subscribers in Q2, which saw Netflix begin notifying customers in the U.S. and other countries that users on their accounts who live outside their households would need to be added as an “extra member” (or pay for their own subscriptions). Wall Street forecast earnings per share (EPS) of $2.86 on $8.3 billion in revenue, according to analyst consensus data provided by Refinitiv. Netflix reported diluted EPS of $2.88 on $8.2 billion in revenue.

Netflix stands to benefit from the dual strikes underway in Hollywood while competitors like Disney and Apple will get “weaker,” in part because of the streamer’s vast international production pipeline, a top media-stocks analyst said Wednesday on the brink of earnings season.“The strike plays to their advantage,” Michael Nathanson, founding partner of SVB MoffettNathanson, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “I’ve not been a Netflix bull, but their setup for this quarter and the next 12 months is incredibly strong.”Co-host Andrew Ross-Sorkin seized on that notion, seeking to clarify whether Nathanson meant Netflix would get stronger merely relative to its competition – or if it could help the streamer overall. The answer seemed to be: a bit of both.“I think relative, clearly, right?” Nathanson said.

Netflix will be first out of the gate with quarterly earnings after market close today amid a level of Hollywood labor strife not seen since the 1960s. Writers and actors are protesting declines in pay and working conditions — an industry shift that many blame on the company whose name is synonymous with streaming.

It’s Day 5 of the SAG-AFTRA strike and Day 79 of the WGA strike. 

The Silent Sea star Gong Yoo is set to lead Netflix’s upcoming original series The Trunk.Today (July 17), Netflix announced that the Gong Yoo has been cast as the lead of its new original series The Trunk. The actor will be joined by Seo Hyun-jin, who previously led popular K-dramas like The Beauty Inside and Why Her.According to Netflix, The Trunk will be a mystery series about the unexpected events that unfold after a strange trunk is found in a lake.