‘Squid Sport’ watched by two-thirds of Netflix customers, few new U.S. subs

It might appear to be each American you already know has watched “Squid Sport,” however the present’s recognition has not but created a surge of recent Netflix subscribers within the U.S.

Netflix revealed in its shareholder letter Tuesday that 142 million of its subscribers have seen no less than two minutes of the wildly in style South Korean drama. That is precisely two-thirds of the corporate’s 213 million world clients.

However whereas the streaming service gained 4.4 million internet subscribers within the third quarter, topping common analyst estimates of three.5 million, the expansion did not come from the U.S. or Canada. The corporate added simply 70,000 customers from the area within the quarter.

Whereas it is potential Netflix could have added extra American or Canadian subscribers ensuing from “Squid Sport” within the fourth quarter, which started Oct. 1, the corporate did not alter its preexisting 8.5 million world forecast for the interval.

It is changing into clear that Netflix’s progress has stalled within the U.S. and Canada, the place it has added fewer than 1 million subscribers up to now 12 months. That is a part of the rationale the corporate is starting to dabble in video video games. Will probably be attention-grabbing to see if Netflix does something stunning within the coming months to jump-start progress within the U.S. and Canada, or if it is content material with its progress plateau within the area so long as it is nonetheless charging forward internationally.

Netflix’s 74 million U.S. and Canada subscriber base additionally serves as a de facto ceiling for its streaming competitors. Netflix nonetheless dominates Disney+, Hulu, AT&T’s HBO Max, NBCUniversal’s Peacock and different, newer streaming providers when it comes to general subscribers.

Cowen & Co. printed survey outcomes earlier this month in a word to shoppers that confirmed 25% of respondents mentioned they used Netflix greater than another video service — together with normal cable and broadcast TV. That dwarfed different subscription streaming providers. Amazon Prime Video was the subsequent highest at 7.3%.

If “Squid Sport” cannot usher in hundreds of thousands of recent subscribers, it is honest to marvel if any new content material can really transfer the needle within the area.

Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the guardian firm of each CNBC and the Peacock streaming service.