Netflix subscriber growth falls short of expectations

Video streaming company Netflix Inc added fewer subscribers than expected during the first quarter of 2017, but its profits beat estimates from analysts on an earnings per share basis.

Netflix added 4.95m subscribers in the first three months of the year, with Factset having estimated that the total number would reach 5.2m.

Of that number, the company’s subscriptions increased 1.42m within the US, while international additions totalled 3.53m, both figures falling short of what had been estimated.

Those numbers take Netflix just shy of 100m total subscribers, with the current number standing at 98.75m according to the firm’s latest figures.

Netflix’s earnings surpassed expectations however for the first quarter, gaining 40 cents per share in comparison with the 37 cents forecast beforehand. Revenue was mostly in line with estimates at $2.64bn.

Netflix brushed off the failure to reach expectations for subscriber growth, attributing it to being part and parcel of the long-term trend of internet streaming.

"We have come to see these quarterly variances as mostly noise in the long-term growth trend and adoption of internet TV," Netflix said.

It added in a letter to shareholders that it will continue to invest as its membership growths.

"The opportunity provided to us by the growth of the global internet is gigantic and our plan is to keep investing as we increase membership, revenue and operating margins."