Netflix growth in recent quarter slightly misses mark

Netflix on Thursday reported ending the year with 221.8 million subscribers, slightly missing its forecast despite the success of hit series like Squid Game and Money Heist.

“We slightly over-forecasted paid net adds in (the fourth quarter),” Netflix said in a letter accompanying its quarterly earnings report.

Most of the 8.3 million subscriptions added at the end of last year came from outside North America, according to the streaming television service.

Netflix said in the earnings report that it expected to only add some 2.5 million subscribers in the current quarter, possible fueling investor concerns that the effect of a “pull-forward” of sign-ups caused by the pandemic has not yet dispelled.

Meanwhile, Netflix costs continued to rise as it spends on shows and marketing to fend off competition from the likes of Disney+ and Amazon Prime.

“Film is incredibly important for our members, which is why our ambition has always been to work with the world’s best filmmakers and stars to create a wide variety of quality movies,” Netflix said in the letter.

“We took a large step forward in Q4 on this front with our biggest film slate ever.”

The pandemic has stalled production of shows for a while, but Netflix has ramped back up its production of original programming, boasting of hits with Squid Game, Red Notice and Money Heist.

Netflix shares that ended the official trading day at a loss dipped a little further to $508.25 in late trades.

Netflix reported a net income of $607 million in the fourth quarter on revenue that grew to $7.7 billion.