Netflix (NFLX) saw its stock soar more than 14% in after-hours trading on Tuesday, following the company’s announcement of impressive fourth-quarter results. The streaming giant added 18.9 million subscribers, marking its largest quarterly gain in history. Alongside the surge in users, Netflix exceeded both revenue and earnings expectations.
In a bid to return value to shareholders, Netflix also revealed a $15 billion stock buyback and raised its full-year revenue forecast. The company now expects its 2025 revenue to fall between $43.5 billion and $44.5 billion, surpassing its previous projection of $43 billion to $44 billion.
The subscriber boom came after a strong finish to 2024, buoyed by high-profile content including two back-to-back NFL games, the “Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson” boxing match, and the return of the globally popular series Squid Game. As part of its ongoing strategy, Netflix also confirmed plans for price hikes across several regions.
“We are adjusting prices today across most plans in the US, Canada, Portugal, and Argentina,” the company said in its earnings release.
The price of Netflix’s ad-supported plan will rise from $6.99 to $7.99, while the Standard, ad-free tier will increase from $15.49 to $17.99. The Premium plan will see a $2 hike to $24.99, and the cost for adding an extra member will rise by $1, reaching $8.99.
Analysts had predicted Netflix would report 9.18 million new subscribers, following a gain of 13.12 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The company, however, stopped disclosing subscriber figures starting this year.
In an earnings call, Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters downplayed the impact of any single event on the subscriber growth, despite the popularity of its live sports programming. “We’ve consistently seen across our history that no single title really drives a majority of our acquisition or engagement,” Peters stated, emphasizing that live events were a smaller factor in the quarter’s success.
Notably, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight attracted over 108 million global viewers, setting a new record for the most-streamed sporting event ever. For comparison, the 2024 Super Bowl, which attracted 124 million US viewers, remains the most-watched American TV broadcast in history. Similarly, the NFL games averaged 30 million viewers, making Christmas Day 2024 Netflix’s most-watched day ever in the US.
Looking ahead, Netflix plans to further invest in live sports, recently debuting WWE Raw and exploring potential bids for UFC rights. However, the company has stated that its live sports strategy will focus on high-profile, special event programming rather than large-scale regular season rights.
“We are not focused on rights for large regular season sports packages; our live strategy is about delivering can’t-miss, special event programming,” Netflix confirmed in its shareholder letter.
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