Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown proved to be a major success in getting more people to sign up to its streaming service worldwide.But now that subscriber growth is set to slow after the benefits of reducing the number of users per subscription has run its course. “It is likely Netflix has a few more quarters of strong subscriber growth driven by its content slate and ad-tier, but we do expect the benefits of the password-sharing crackdown to slow,” Robert Fishman, an analyst with MoffettNathanson Research, wrote in a March 6 report.That analysis released on Thursday was followed by stock in Netflix falling by $84.56, or 8.5 percent, to close at $906.36 on the day. Any future falloff in subscriber growth will be hard to measure, as Netflix stopped reporting quarterly subscriber numbers at the beginning of 2025 to focus on revenue and profit growth.In the fourth quarter of 2024, the NFL and a record-shattering boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul helped Netflix add 19 million subscribers, a new record for the company, surpassing even COVID-era highs.But the MoffettNathanson report argued fewer people using someone else’s log-in credentials and paying for their own accounts has benefits, but that doesn’t include Netflix signing up large numbers of new customers.“This implies that the elevated level of global subscriber growth for Netflix does not represent as significant an expansion of its user base. Rather, it is leading to Netflix (very successfully) improving the monetization of its existing userbase,” the MoffettNathanson researchers wrote.At the same time, future revenue growth for Netflix may come in the wake of Netflix announcing its first price hikes in two years, including a price increase to its advertising-supported tier, and the streaming giant continuing to expand its advertising business.
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