Netflix's profits set to soar to record £1.6billion high after crackdown on password sharing

• Streaming giant signed up 4.7million subscribers in first three months of 2024
• This is highest amount of subscribers since 2020, when lockdown led to surge
• Experts predict profits are set to rise by more than 50 per cent to £1.6billion

Netflix’s profits are set to hit a new record following the release of the popular show One Day and a crackdown on password-sharing.

The streaming giant signed up an estimated 4.7 million subscribers in the first three months of the year, according to Wall Street forecasts.

This is the highest amount since 2020, when lockdowns led to a huge rise in customers.

It represents a remarkable turaround for the company, whose fortunes had seemed to have peaked in the pandemic.

Behind the recovery are new rules on the number of people who can share a password.

Netflix’s profits are set to hit a new record following the release of the popular show One Day and a crackdown on password-sharing

Netflix has about 260 million users worldwide, compared with 200 million for Amazon Prime and 150 million for Disney+. Pictured: Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley in a scene from Ripley

Netflix can ask a user to confirm by email verification that they are the account holder – and if not they are locked out.

Experts warned the proposal to make it hard to share log-ins would wreck the business.

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But more people have signed up since a cheaper monthly payment plan was introduced in 2022 that includes ads, for £4.99.

The ad-free version costs £7.99.

It is now believed that profits are set to rise by more than 50 per cent to £1.6 billion – the highest ever for the first quarter of the company’s financial year, according to Refinitiv data.

It keeps Netflix firmly in the lead of the so-called ‘streaming wars’, which have seen it go head-to-head with titans such as Disney, Amazon and Apple.

Netflix has about 260 million users worldwide, compared with 200 million for Amazon Prime and 150 million for Disney+.

One of its biggest hits this year is One Day, an adaptation of David Nicholls’s book, which has been watched more than 15 million times.

The romantic drama, which stars Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod, gained celebrity fans including Kim Kardashian, who urged her 364 million Instagram followers to watch the show.

Netflix is also known for making The Crown and films such as The Power Of The Dog. It was launched in 1997 as a video rental business.

In 2007 it set up a streaming service and debuted its first original drama – House Of Cards – in 2011.

Netflix will publish its first-quarter results on Thursday.

The streaming giant signed up an estimated 4.7 million subscribers in the first three months of the year, according to Wall Street forecasts

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