Netflix's U.S. subscriber growth slowing as competition looms

Netflix's subscriber growth is bogging down even before the leading video streaming service confronts high-powered threats from Apple and Walt Disney Co.

The latest sign of the challenges facing Netflix emerged Wednesday with the release of its third-quarter results. The numbers provided further evidence that Netflix's salad days may be over, particularly in the U.S., where most households that want its 12-year-old streaming service already have it.

Netflix added 6.8 million subscribers worldwide from July through September, below the 7 million customers forecast by the Los Gatos, California, company. Just 520,000 of those subscribers were picked up in the U.S., below the 800,000 that management anticipated. The shortfall came after Netflix lost 123,000 subscribers in the U.S. during the April-June period, marking its first contraction in eight years.

That downturn and the uncertainty about the service's future growth is the main reason Netflix's stock had dropped by about 30 per cent below its peak price of $423.21 US reached 16 months ago. Netflix's shares surged by 8 per cent in extended trading Wednesday, apparently because some investors had been bracing for an even bigger letdown in the third quarter.

Net income, revenue rise

For the third quarter, Netflix's net income rose to $665 million, or $1.47 per share, from $403 million, or 89 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total revenue rose to $5.25 billion from about $4 billion. Analysts on average had expected $5.52 billion.

In the next earnings report, Netflix will begin disclosing revenue and membership by regions - Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East/Africa, Latin America and the United States, the company said.

Netflix said it expects to add another 7.6 million worldwide subscribers during the final three months of the year, down from 8.8 million during the same period last year. The more conservative outlook amounted to a concession to the new entrants in the streaming market.

"The launch of these new services will be noisy," Netflix advised in its third-quarter letter to shareholders. "There may be some modest headwind to our near-term growth, and we have tried to factor that into our guidance."

Competition looms

The big question now is whether some of Netflix's existing subscribers will decide to cancel its service and defect to cheaper alternatives that Apple and Disney will launch within the next month.

Apple is charging only $5 per month for its service, set for a Nov. 1 debut, while Disney is selling a service featuring its vast library of treasured films and TV shows for just $7 per month beginning Nov. 12. Netflix's most popular plan in the U.S. costs $13 per month.

Netflix is counting on the unique lineup of award-winning TV shows and movies that it has amass since expanding into original programming six years ago to help it retain its competitive edge and attract more subscribers.

It has taken advantage of its head start in video streaming to track the viewing interests of millions of households around the world, giving it valuable insights into the kind of programming that is most likely to appeal to wide swaths of its audience.

That knowledge, in theory, will help it pick and choose which TV shows and movies to back in the future as it bids for programming against the likes of Apple, Disney and existing rivals such as Amazon and AT&T's HBO.