Netflix To Stop Sharing Subscriber Data; Stock Dips

(RTTNews) - Netflix Inc. shares were losing more than 6 percent on Friday's initial trading after the company announced plans to stop sharing its quarterly subscriber numbers, a key metrics, and average revenue per member from the first quarter of 2025.

For the second quarter, the video streaming giant also projects sequentially lower paid net additions, saying it's due to typical seasonality, while global ARM would be up year-over-year. For the quarter, revenue growth is expected to be 16 percent.

In its first quarter, while reporting higher profit and revenues, the company said it gained 9.3 million new subscribers, significantly higher than last year's 1.75 million, reaching total subscribers of 269.60 million, 16 percent higher than last year. Meanwhile, net additions dropped sequentially from the 13.12 million subscribers it gained in the preceding fourth quarter.

While announcing the decision to stop sharing the member data, the company said, "In our early days, when we had little revenue or profit, membership growth was a strong indicator of our future potential. But now we're generating very substantial profit and free cash flow (FCF). We are also developing new revenue streams like advertising and our extra member feature, so memberships are just one component of our growth."

In 2023, the company had stopped providing quarterly paid membership guidance.

However, the company plans to periodically update on members when it grows and hit certain major milestones, just that it's not going to be part of its regular reporting. According to the firm, stopping the subscriber data is a better approach that reflects the evolution of the business, and it more matches and is consistent with how it manages internally to engagement, revenue and profit.

For the full year 2024, Netflix expects healthy revenue growth of 13 percent to 15 percent, and operating margin of 25 percent, up from prior forecast of 24 percent.

On the Nasdaq, Netflix shares were trading at $572.47, down 6.2 percent.