Netflix Roars To a Record 16 Million Subscribers Amid Covid Shutdown; 'Tiger King' Breaks Records

The eccentric Joe Exotic and the whole other gang have turned out to be money-spinners for Netflix as not only has the show recorded immense numbers but Netflix - the streaming giant has packed a massive 16 million subscribers in quarter 1.

The streamer said it had 182.9 million paid subscribers globally as of the end of Q1, up 22.8% from a year earlier. Netflix had previously told investors it expected to add 7.0 million subs in the quarter, but that was before COVID-19 kept millions of people homebound.

“[O]ur membership growth has temporarily accelerated due to home confinement,” Netflix said in its quarterly shareholder letter. In addition, it said that due to the shutdown of Hollywood productions “some cash spending on content will be delayed, improving our free cash flow, and some title releases will be delayed, typically by a quarter.”

As another negative consequence of the pandemic, Netflix said the “sharply stronger U.S. dollar” depressed international revenue. The company also said customer-support operations suffered significant disruption before it added 2,000 new remote agents.

In after-hours trading Tuesday, Netflix shares popped to new all-time highs — up as much as 4.8% to $454.80 per share — but fell back to up about 1%.

For whatever they’re worth, the company touted worldwide estimates of how many households “have chosen to watch” a cherry-picked batch of originals: Tiger King, 64 million; Spenser Confidential, 85 million; and dating show Love Is Blind, 30 million. Spanish-language hit La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), which debuted April 3, had 65 million households sampling it. Netflix said it projected Ozark Season 3 to have been selected to watch by 29 million member households in its first four weeks.

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