Netflix added a record 15.77 million subscribers last quarter, more than twice as many as it had expected to gain when it made its predictions before the coronavirus outbreak.
Record growth
Five months after launch, Disney+ has skyrocketed to 50 million subscribers fuelled in part by the coronavirus lockdown. Netflix is also seeing massive gains, especially from March onwards, the company said in its earnings report for Q1 2020.
Netflix now has 182.9 million subscribers worldwide and it expects to add an additional 7.5 million in Q2 2020, which, if accurate, will be far higher than the 2.7 million subscribers it attracted in Q2 2019. However, it warned that "uncertainty on home confinement timing, this is mostly guesswork" and cautioned that growth in the second half of the year may be slower.
The pandemic has given Netflix a huge boost whereas the launch of new streaming services such as Apple TV+ and Disney+ do not appear to have hindered continued, strong growth.
Almost all filming has stopped globally but Netflix says that it will still be able to "provide a terrific variety of new titles throughout 2020 and 2021".
Furthermore, the company said it is "working with ISPs to help increase capacity so that we can lift these limitations as conditions improve", referring to the reduction in streaming quality.
Also read: No need to reduce video streaming quality, say experts & ISPs
As part of the announcement, the company disclosed its latest viewing statistics saying that Tiger King has been watched by 64 million households in its first four weeks. It also shared statistics for Ozark season 3 (a projected 29m), Love is Blind (30m), Spenser Confidential (85m), and La Casa de Papel, aka Money Heist season 4 (a projected 65m). Netflix counts a view after just 2 minutes of watch time.
