Netflix has officially amassed 200 million subscribers, but the company has no plans to rest on its laurels.
As it continues to compete with services like Disney + and HBO Max, Netflix plans to improve its user experience to return viewers. It launched its ‘Worth It’, ‘Top 10’ and ‘New and Popular’ sections last year to help with the discovery, and Netflix says it’s also preparing to launch another new feature. In the first half of this year, the service will add a tool to enable Netflix to select a title based on a user’s preferences, rather than watching something to watch.
‘Our members can basically indicate to us that they want to skip the page completely, click on one button, and we select a title for them to play right away. And it’s a great mechanism that worked very well for members in that situation, ”said Greg Peters, chief operating officer. earnings V&A. Asked if the service would name the tool ‘I feel happy’, Peters said it would be called something else at launch.
We contacted Netflix for more information on how titles are suggested, and will update this post when we hear it.
Netflix said in its fourth quarter shareholder letter announced on Tuesday that it is succeeding in obtaining 8.5 million more paid subscriptions to help the streaming giant reach the 200 million mark. In total, the company added a total of 37 million paid subscriptions during 2020, no doubt helped by the increase in TV viewing and streaming resulting from closure orders and quarantine measures amid the coronavirus pandemic. In some contexts, Netflix says memberships rose 23 percent from the previous year in the fourth quarter.
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With the advent of so many new streaming services competing for consumer money and viewing time, Netflix has more competition than ever before. However, the company says it has been expecting this new competition for a number of years – also from heavyweights like Disney and WarnerMedia. The key to his response is the fierce twist of original content and latest successes like the latest season of The crown, Barbarians, en Selena: The series.
The content strategy is also strengthened with the release of international films in outside markets. The company specifically cited an example of the French heist film Lupine, which is a no. 2nd place in its US top 10 list. In 2020, the company also released a number of extremely successful originals during the year that had critical claims and cultural impacts. Tiger King, Queen’s Gambit, en Bridgerton three were such home businesses, the company said.
Even with the pandemic significantly delaying production timelines and release dates, Netflix says it is still on track to release at least one original film Every week of 2021. Plus, the company said it has a staggering 500-plus titles, either in post-production or ready to deliver its service.
Most surprising, however, was the claim that Netflix is ’very close’ to cash flow positives and that it is no longer necessary to raise external funding. In addition, the company plans to “repay the mortgage on maturity on hand, as we are currently much higher than our minimum cash requirements.” More information on this will likely be shared during the investor call later today.
All in all, it’s been an incredible year for Netflix. And it seems that Netflix, despite the number of contestants wanting to sweep the crown, remains king in the streaming space – for now, anyway.
This post has been updated to add additional information from Netflix’s earnings call.