India Stands As Second-largest Market For Netflix

According to the streaming platform Netflix Inc., India has become its second-largest country in terms of ‘paid net subscriber additions’ as of the second quarter of 2023. Along with this, it has become the third-largest market in terms of ‘revenue per cent growth’.

The American streaming service revealed its quarterly earnings on Thursday, reporting a 17 per cent increase in sales to $9.56 billion. The operational margin of the OTT platform increased to 27 per cent in Q2 2024 from 22 per cent in the same time the previous year.

Global paid streaming memberships increased from 269.60 million in Q1 2024 to 277.65 million in Q2 2024, a 16.5 per cent increase.

In the APAC region (Asia-Pacific region, including India), the paid membership of Netflix increased to 50.32 million (Q2 2024) from 47.50 million (Q1 of 2024). The paid net additions also increased to 2.83 million (Q2 2024) as against 2.16 million (in Q1 2024). The company's revenue grew to $1.05 billion in Q2 2024.

"In Q2 India was out No.2 and No.3 country in terms of paid net subscribers additions and revenue per cent growth, respectively," Theodore A. Sarandos, Co-CEO, President & Director said in a media conference. "There's certainly plenty of room to grow in India as long as we keep thrilling our audiences there," Sarandos added.

The President of Netflix also praised Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his series ‘Heeramandi’ for the success of the firm in India during the second quarter of this year. "SLB is one of the most celebrated filmmakers in India, and he took on this incredibly ambitious series and brought it to screen on Netflix, directed every episode, and it's our biggest drama series to date in India," he stated.

According to Netflix's stock exchange filing, among its Indian programming, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar garnered 15 million views worldwide. It was followed by Diljeet Dosanjh's Amar Singh Chamkila, which garnered 8.3 million views. Additionally, the streaming service offered licenced films, including Shaitaan and Laapataa Ladies.

Other popular shows in Q2 on Netflix were The Great Indian Kapil Show, Bridgerton S3, Baby Reindeer, Queen of Tears, and films such as e Under Paris, Atlas Hit Man, and The Roast of Tom Brad.

About the advertisement, Netflix's Chief Financial Officer Spencer Adam Neumann said that the revenue portion of ads is growing ‘nicely’. "The rate of growth, it just happens to be growing off of a relatively small base because we're starting from only 18 months into the ad," Neumann said.

"We've been scaling our ads member base very quickly from 0-2 years ago to where we are today. And we're excited to say that we're on track to achieve our critical scale goals for all of our ads countries in 2025," Gregory K Peters, Co-CEO, president and Director said.