Netflix goes ahead with 158 million subscribers

San Francisco (awp / afp) – Netflix's online video giant has surpassed 158 million subscribers worldwide, and garnered more than $ 5 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2019, with acclaimed results Stock market at their publication Wednesday.

The group's share price was almost 10% in electronic trading after the closing of Nasdaq (New York), while in the second quarter, it was sanctioned for attracting fewer new subscribers than expected.

The pioneering company is also confident in the avalanche of new competitors on the market. In November alone, Disney and Apple will launch their subscription-series and movie platforms.

But Netflix only evokes "modest headwinds in the short run". "In the long term, we believe that we will continue to grow, thanks to the strength of our service and the opportunities offered by this huge market," the group said in a statement.

In a year, the platform has expanded its subscriber base by 21% worldwide, slightly below expectations, but well below analysts' consensus of more than 161 million paying users. .

In the United States, the service has 60.6 million subscribers, not even 4 million more than a year ago.

"With the strengthening of competition, this bad move on the side of US subscribers indicates future difficulties," said Eric Haggstrom, an analyst at eMarketer. "Netflix's disappointing growth ahead of the new competitors is bad news for 2020 and beyond."

Netflix, which established itself as a pioneer and industry leader, had to embark on the production of original films and series to stay ahead of other players, such as Amazon Prime Video and its strong subscriber base. online trading platform.

Apple TV + will only have a limited offer of original content when it launches on November 1, but the Apple brand can count on its experience in subscription services, a loyal consumer base (900 million iPhones in use worldwide, according to Wedbush) and an aggressive marketing offer: the subscription will cost less than $ 5 a month, half as much as the basic subscription to Netflix in the United States.

Disney + table on its side an impressive catalog of films and series, which include among others the films produced by the studios of the franchises Star Wars and Marvel and all the episodes of the famous series "The Simpson", for less than 7 dollars by months, from November 12 in the United States.

WarnerMedia's HBO Max and NBCUniversal's Peacock are scheduled for 2020.

afp / rp