LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 12

CEO of Netflix Ted Sarandos attends Netflix’s FYSEE event for “Squid Game” at Raleigh Studios Hollywood on June 12, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix)

Charley Gallay | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Netflix posted impressive earnings on Thursday, reporting a 13% increase in revenue during the first quarter of 2025. The streaming service attributed this better-than-expected performance to higher-than-forecasted subscription and advertising revenues.

In late January, the company raised its prices across various plans, increasing the standard plan to $17.99 a month, the ad-supported plan to $7.99, and the premium plan to $24.99. This marks the first quarter that Netflix did not disclose subscriber numbers, shifting its strategy to emphasize revenue and other financial metrics instead.

The earnings report comes amid a challenging market for traditional media stocks, influenced by President Donald Trump’s trade policy. However, Netflix remains optimistic, projecting full-year revenue between $43.5 billion and $44.5 billion. “There’s been no material change to our overall business outlook,” the company stated in a recent announcement.

Amid investor concerns about potential tariffs affecting consumer spending and confidence, co-CEO Greg Peters remarked on the earnings call, “Based on what we are seeing by actually operating the business right now, there’s nothing really significant to note.” He added, “We also take some comfort that entertainment historically has been pretty resilient in tougher economic times. Netflix, specifically, has generally been quite resilient.” Peters noted that they have not experienced any substantial impacts during challenging periods, albeit over a shorter history.

Netflix shares gained about 2% in extended trading Thursday. Here’s how the company performed for the quarter ended March 31, compared with estimates from LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $6.61 vs $5.71 expected
• Revenue: $10.54 billion vs $10.52 billion expected
• Net income for the period was $2.89 billion, or $6.61 per share, up from $2.33 billion, or $5.28 per share during the same quarter a year earlier.
• Revenue in the first quarter increased nearly 13% year over year, reaching $10.54 billion.

Netflix has been focusing on advertising to offset slowing subscriber growth and emphasized, “A key focus in 2025 is enhancing our capabilities for advertisers.” The company launched its in-house ad tech platform in early April in the U.S., with plans to expand into other markets in the coming months.

“We believe our ad tech platform is foundational to our long term ads strategy,” Netflix stated. “Over time, it will enable us to offer better measurement, enhanced targeting, innovative ad formats, and expanded programmatic capabilities.”