Netflix sees 600K bump in US subscribers, but shares slump nonetheless

Netflix said it had seen major increases in US subscribers. And yet the Q2 2013 numbers missed some analyst estimates. 

|
Reuters
Netflix shares dropped today by as much as 6 percent.

Netflix added more than 600,000 subscribers to its US streaming service in the second fiscal quarter of 2013. Still, in trading on Tuesday, Netflix shares tumbled by as much as 6.2 percent – an ominous sign for the California company. 

The reason for the plunge was twofold. For one, although 630,000 new Netflix subscribers – now 29.8 million US streaming subscribers overall – is a solid number, it fell short of the 700,000 new subscribers some analysts had forecasted. Similarly, revenue in the last quarter was "only" $1.069 billion, compared with the predictions of $1.072 billion in revenue. 

In an interview with USA Today, Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, called the results "utterly disappointing," and pointed out that the 630,000 figure was "barely up year-over-year." (Last Q2, Netflix added 530,000 new US subscribers.) 

Part of the frustration may stem from the fact that Netflix is making a big (and seemingly successful) bid to become a kind of online-only HBO.

Over the past year, the company has debuted several new original series, from the critically-acclaimed "Orange is the New Black" to the political soap opera "House of Cards," which was nominated for a spate of Emmys, including Best Actor and Best Series. 

But Netflix seems to have trouble converting that buzz into the kind of earth-shattering subscriber numbers analysts such as Mr. Pachter would like to see. 

For more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Netflix sees 600K bump in US subscribers, but shares slump nonetheless
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2013/0723/Netflix-sees-600K-bump-in-US-subscribers-but-shares-slump-nonetheless
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe