India propels Netflix’s APAC revenue growth to 19% in September quarter

New Delhi: Global streaming giant Netflix on Thursday reported a 15% increase (YoY) in its revenue for the quarter ending September while the APAC market delivered more than 19% growth. 

“We’re improving our product/market fit in APAC and had a strong local content slate in Japan, Korea, Thailand and India in Q3. As a result, our revenue growth rate in APAC (+19% year over year) led all regions,” the company said.

Netflix had another stellar quarter in Q3. The company beat earnings estimates, reporting revenue of $9.82bn, better than the $9.77bn expected. 

Net income was stronger than expected, coming in at $2.42bn, better than estimates of $2.24bn. 

Earnings per share, a key measure of the profitability of a company, was $5.40, beating the $5.18 estimate. 

From a content perspective, Netflix’s latest report suggests that viewers are still hooked. It beat estimates for subscriber growth and added another 5 million subscribers last quarter. 

Added to this, the company said that its top 10 rated films recorded over 10 million views. It included the Indian production Maharaja with 22.6 million viewers. 

Netflix also posted decent forward guidance for Q4. The company said it expects ‘paid net additions’ to grow at a faster rate in Q4 compared to Q3 because of seasonality and a strong content slate leading up to the festive season. 

When it comes to Q4 revenue guidance, Netflix expects to generate revenues of $10.13bn, vs. expectations of $10.05bn. 

Revenues in 2025 are expected to be $43bn to $44bn, estimates were for $43.3bn. 

Operating margin is also expected to be slightly stronger than expected for 2025, at 28% vs. 27.9%.

Netflix is targeting 500 mn subscribers from the current base of 283 million. However, from 2025, the company will no longer report on subscriber numbers and instead will focus on revenues, margins and free cash flow as its key metrics.

Its new ad tier and paid sharing model have been successful and have added a combined 60 million new subscribers. 

While Netflix does not expect advertising to become a primary growth driver until 2026, it noted that the ad-tier accounted for more than 50% of sign-ups during the third-quarter in countries where it is available.

The next phase in its plan to boost revenue per user is to increase subscription prices.