Netflix to stop reporting subscriber tally as streaming wars cool

LOS ANGELES — Netflix on Thursday unexpectedly announced that it will stop reporting subscriber numbers each quarter, a decision seen as a sign that years of customer gains in the streaming wars are coming to an end.

Shares of the streaming video pioneer fell after it reported a large batch of new customers in the first quarter but gave a revenue forecast that missed analyst targets. The stock was trading at $585.41 afterhours, down 4.2 per cent from its closing price.

Netflix said its adsupported streaming plans helped attract 9.3 million new customers, nearly double the consensus forecast of analysts polled by LSEG. That brought its global total to 269.6 million at the end of March.

Netflix executives have urged investors to focus on revenue and operating margins when assessing the company’s progress, rather than customer additions. Netflix said it will stop disclosing subscriber additions each quarter starting with the first quarter of 2025, and instead will announce them only when major milestones are reached.

“This change is really motivated by wanting to focus on what we see are the key metrics that we think matter most to business,” co-chief Executive Greg Peters said in a postearnings video.

Analysts said the decision to end quarterly reporting of subscriber numbers would likely rankle investors and make it harder for Wall Street analysts to model the company’s business, going forward. They also said it was unclear what would drive new sign-ups once Netflix has pulled in as many users as possible from its crackdown on password sharing.

“It might be a few more quarters of paid sharing benefits, but we don’t really know what the next catalyst will be after that for a member addition,” said Magalie Grossheim, senior equity research analyst at M Science. “I think that’s probably contributing also to why they’re deciding to stop reporting those numbers.”

Other companies similarly have stopped reporting familiar metrics — monthly active users, in the case of Meta’s Facebook and social platform X, previously known as Twitter — as growth slowed.