Subscriber growth gives Netflix shares biggest gain since 2021

Streaming service is on track to add more than 20m customers this year, a big jump from fewer than 9m in 2022

Netflix shares rose 15% at one stage and are now up more than 35% this year.

Netflix shares gained the most since January 2021 after it posted its best quarter for subscriber growth in years. 

The company credited a strong programming slate and its crackdown on password sharing.

The world’s top paid-streaming service had said earlier this week that it had added 8.76m customers in the third quarter, far exceeding analysts’ forecasts and boosting its overall subscriber base to 247.2m. 

Netflix is raising prices for some customers in the US, UK, and France — a sign of management’s confidence in the future, even as rival streaming services lose money.

Investor worry

Investors have worried that Netflix might lose customers if it forced people who were sharing accounts to buy their own subscriptions.

However, the crackdown has led to a surge in new customers without a major increase in cancellations. Netflix is now on track to add more than 20m customers this year, a big jump from fewer than 9m in 2022. 

Shares in Netflix rose 15% at one stage and are now up more than 35% this year, beating the 12% gain for the S&P 500 Index.

The successful rollout of paid sharing, which lets customers purchase additional access for friends or family, has emboldened Netflix to raise prices in some of its biggest markets. 

• Bloomberg