Netflix pins hopes on star attractions after another million subscribers quit

NETFLIX shares jumped last night as it reported a smaller than expected fall in subscribers for the past three months.

Shares rose almost 6pc in after-hours trading as the streaming giant said it lost 1m subscribers between April and June, half the number it had forecast. Despite the uptick, Netflix shares are still down 66pc this year amid fears over the surging cost of living and a wider tech sell-off.

The firm, which is pinning its hopes on the success of new releases including The Gray

Man, starring Ryan Gosling and Ana De Armas ( pictured), had 221m subscribers at the end of the quarter, down from 222m.

The update came three months after Netflix sent shockwaves through financial markets after revealing 200,000 subscribers had quit the platform in the first quarter of the year.

It was its first fall in subscribers in over a decade and wiped more than £40bn of the tech giant’s shares. It also led to fears the explosion in online streaming had come to an end. At the time, Netflix warned a further 2m customers could leave in the second quarter.

But last night’s update will have relieved investors as it lost far fewer than it had expected and forecast a return to growth next quarter. Netflix said it will add 1m subscribers in the next three months. Overall revenue at the platform was £6.6bn, up 9pc from the prior quarter.