Netflix registered close to 2024 by adding approximately 19 million subscribers globally in the fourth quarter the largest addition it ever saw in three months. This surge pushed the company’s total global subscriber base to an impressive 301.6 million. Wall Street analysts expecting 9.8 million added subscriptions were shocked to see the actual figure after the call with nearly twice the expected results. Greater Europe and the Middle East and Africa contributed 4 million subscriptions to this surge.
Greg Peters, Netflix’s co-CEO, said, “The majority of the success we have had has been off the back of our ad-supported tier. It is growing at a really rapid rate; over 55% of new subscribers in countries where the ad tier is available, including the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, choose this plan.”
Greg Peters, CO-CEO of Netflix, said, “We’ve seen membership on those ads plans increase about 30% quarter over quarter, View hours per member on the ads plan is similar to engagement on our standard non-ads plan in our ads countries, which is a really good marker that we’re excited about.” also added, “We’ve done the work to meet our scale goals for advertisers in 2025. That means we’ve increasingly shifted our focus to improving the offering for advertisers and enhancing monetization of that growing inventory.”
Netflix is also investing in its own technology stack to power its ad-supported tier. The tech stack has already launched in Canada, with plans to expand to the 12 other countries where the ad tier is available, starting with the United States in April 2025.
Greg Peters, CO-CEO of Netflix highlighting the benefits of the proprietary system, said, “Being on our own tech stack enables all those advertiser-facing features. The other big benefit is that it just creates a higher-quality experience for our members. It increases relevance, which is good for them, good for advertisers, and good for everybody in the ecosystem.”
Furthermore, The company will focus on revenue, operating margin, and audience engagement metrics instead of the regular reports on Subscribers. Peters stated that this change shows that Netflix is placing more emphasis on sustainable growth and re-evaluating its business model. While Netflix closes the door on subscription reporting, its record-breaking Q4 2024 performance is a strong indicator of the company’s ingenuity in adapting itself to the ever-more competitive landscape of streaming services.