Netflix has released its third-quarter earnings report for 2017 today and some of its reported results have surpassed even the company’s own expectations. Namely, Netflix says it is on track to achieve a revenue of $11 billion for 2017. That’s thanks to the company’s current subscriber additions totaling around 5.3 million across the planet, up from the previously forecast 4.4 million new user subscriptions. Adding to the 15.5 million tally for new subscriptions in 2017 overall, up 29-percent year-over-year. Several other figures presented by Netflix, via its results, also shine a positive light as the company maintains its position as the top streaming media provider. However, despite the good news, its free cash flow also continued to take a hit throughout the quarter.
As to the numbers, revenue increases at Netflix are attributed to increases in paid subscribers and average selling price (ASP) increases – with year-over-year revenue growth settling at around 33-percent. From the previous quarter, revenue increased by around 7-percent – up from around $2.78 billion to $2.98 billion. Net income for the company increased both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, as well. For the quarter, the company reports an increase of around 97-percent. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, Netflix also managed to stay on target to hit a new low in terms of free cash flow for the overall fiscal year. For the quarter itself, Netflix lost $465 million in free cash flow. That’s better than both year-over-year and from quarter-to-quarter – by around $41 million and $143 million, respectively. The company attributes its debt to the creation of original content and the licensing of new content. However, it also continues to expect those figures to improve over time as more deals are struck and consumers continue to ‘cut the cord.’
Looking to Q4 2017, the company currently expects to add 6.3 million new subscribers, with just over 80-percent of those users coming from the international market. That forecast is down year-over-year by around 10.5-percent. The company recently increased its pricing for HD and 4K content, which it says will help increase revenue, create more content, and grow its operating margins. It should also see increased revenue from partnerships Netflix has been entering into with carriers and other media providers. The company is focused on increasing the international portion of its revenue streams and expects that the next quarter will see a further decrease in how much the U.S. market contributes to around 34.4-percent. The international portion of that metric should grow in tandem.