Netflix gained 5.89 million paying subscribers in the second quarter of 2023, compared to a gain of 1.75 million the previous quarter and a loss of almost a million subscribers in the second quarter of 2022. Netflix ended the first half of 2023 with a global total of 238.39 million subscribers.
There were over a million net additions in each region, as Netflix rolled out its paid sharing system to more than 100 countries, representing over 80% of its revenue. The company said that the number of subscribers that cancelled as a result was low and it is seeing “healthy” conversion of additional households and uptake of its “extra member” feature.
The Europe, Middle East and Africa region saw the greatest quarterly subscriber growth, up by 2.43 million to 79.81 million. That was followed by Latin America, up 1.22 million to 42.47 million. The United States and Canada saw an increase of 1.17 million to 75.57 million. In Asia Pacific, the number rose by 1.07 million to 40.55 million.
Few details were provided about the adoption of the Netflix plan with advertising. It said that the number of members taking advertising had nearly doubled since the previous quarter but did not give any numbers. It noted that advertising revenue is not currently material, but says it hopes to develop it into a multi-billion dollar incremental revenue stream.
Netflix has discontinued its basic plan in the United States and the United Kingdom for new or rejoining members. The elimination of the basic tier will push new users to either the ad-supported plan or the standard plan, which is more than double the price of the plan with advertising.
Operating income for the second quarter was $1.8 billion, up on the $1.6 billion for the same quarter the previous year.
Netflix also shared some viewing data. It showed that its most popular movie, Red Notice, has received a total of 230 million views. The first season of Squid Game generated a total of 265 million views.