Growth has been led by the EMEA region, which saw 3.95 million paid net additions in Q3.
In its third quarter, Netflix added nine million new subscribers for a global total of more than 247m. The numbers indicate that the streaming giant’s crackdown on password-sharing and efforts to push users towards its recently launched ad-supported tier seem to be paying off.
The company reported Q3 revenue of US$8.5bn, up 7.8% year-over-year and up from the $8.19bn reported in Q2, slightly beating Netflix’s own forecast due to larger-than-expected member growth. Revenue growth in Q3 reflected a 9% increase year-over-year in average paid memberships, with 8.8m paid net additions compared to 2.4m new users in Q3 of last year.
In its letter to shareholders, Netflix management touted the adoption of its ad-supported subscription plan, which was up almost 70% quarter-over-quarter, with 30% of new sign-ups in territories with the plan joining the ad-backed tier.
Netflix’s nine million new paid subs this quarter continues an upward trend for the streamer, which added six million new users in the previous quarter. Each of the company’s four global regions enjoyed subscriber increases of more than a million users.
The growth was led by the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region, which saw 3.95m paid net additions in Q3 – up from 2.43m new subs in Q2 – while revenue ticked up to $2.69bn. It remains Netflix’s largest region by subscriber, with a total of 83.7m paid users.
The UCAN (US, Canada, Australia & New Zealand) region, meanwhile, added 1.75m new subscribers in the quarter, bringing the total in the market to 77.32m. Revenues stayed relatively flat, however, at $3.74bn.
Netflix saw its smallest number of new subscribers in its LATAM (Latin America) region, with some 1.18m new paid users added in Q3 for a total of 43.65m. Regional revenue rose slightly to $1.14bn, up from $1.07bn in Q2.
The APAC (Asia Pacific) market saw 1.88m new paid users in the quarter to bring the regional total to 42.43m, while revenue rose to $948m, an improvement on the $919m earned in the previous quarter.
The streamer also acknowledged the tough times that have faced the industry at large for much of the year.
“The last six months have been challenging for our industry given the combined writers and actors strikes in the U.S.,” the shareholder letter reads. “While we have reached an agreement with the WGA, negotiations with SAG-AFTRA are ongoing. We’re committed to resolving the remaining issues as quickly as possible so everyone can return to work making movies and TV shows that audiences will love.”