Showing no signs of chill, Netflix enters its next phase

In Q4, the streamer surprised even itself, adding 7.7m net new subscribers after forecasting 4.5m.

Now, with membership growth back on track, the company says it’s focused on achieving greater profitability through new revenue streams. Among them:

• The Great Password Crackdown of 2023: The company says 100m+ subscriber households share their passwords outside of the home, and that it’ll soon start charging for that. Whatever happened to “love is sharing a password,” Netflix — hmm?
• Ads: In November, Netflix debuted its lower-priced, ad-supported tier. Netflix said it’s off to a strong start, but admitted its material impact in 2023 will be “modest.”

Big picture: Netflix represents less than 10% of TV screen time in the US and UK, and less than 5% of TV watching in places like Mexico, Brazil, and Poland. The company stressed that its $31.6B of annual revenue pales in comparison to the ~$300B pay TV industry, $180B TV ad market, and $130B gaming space.

Now, off to go watch “Kaleidoscope” and be confused.