Netflix has revealed that in 2025, it plans to no longer publically disclose how many people have signed up for its service or how much revenue it generates from each subscriber.
Instead, the streaming platform says it will highlight revenue growth and the amount of time users spend streaming content on the platform.
“In our early days, when we had little revenue or profit, membership growth was a strong indicator of our future potential,” writes Netflix in a letter to shareholders. “But now we’re generating very substantial profit and free cash flow.”
Netflix feels that the time users spend on the services is “its best proxy for customer satisfaction.”
Why is Netflix making this change? The shift is likely because subscriber growth on the platform continues to slow, and sharing declining numbers doesn’t paint a resoundingly positive picture of the streamer. However, Netflix says it will still release subscriber updates when it hits specific milestones.
This means that whenever Netflix hits 300 million subscribers, we’ll likely still hear about it.
In its latest earnings report, Netflix revealed that the service added 9.33 million subscribers over the last few months, bringing the total worldwide number to 270 million.
Unsurprisingly, investors have reacted negatively to the shift given Netflix’s perceived value is tied directly to its continued subscriber growth. The streaming giant’s shares dropped roughly 4.5 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday, April 18th.
Over the past few years, Netflix has made several changes to the platform, including blocking password sharing, hiking prices, and revamping its subscriber tiers, including launching an ad-supported option.
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
