But the pioneering service in the sector, which has largely benefited from the health restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, expects only 2.5 million new subscribers for the current quarter, compared to the 4 million gained in the first quarter of 2021, has she announced in her fourth quarter results release, published on Thursday.

The sanction was immediate on Wall Street: the action of the Californian group lost nearly 12% during electronic trading after the close of trading.

"(Subscriber) retention and audiences remain strong but new subscriber growth has not returned to pre-pandemic levels," Netflix admits.

"We believe this is due to various factors including Covid which continues to weigh on the economy and macro-economic difficulties in different parts of the world including Latin America."

From October to December, the group achieved 7.7 billion dollars in revenue and accumulated 8.28 million new subscribers, a performance in line with market expectations.

The platform benefited from the worldwide success of the South Korean series Squid Game, which had been seen by more than 142 million subscribers in mid-October, a month after its release, or some two-thirds of users.

A record.

She was also able to count on the new and final season of the Spanish series Casa de Papel.

A participant in an event around the South Korean Squid Game series in October 2021 in Abu Dhabi Giuseppe CACACE AFP / Archives

For 2022, on the other hand, we will have to wait until March for big releases like season 2 of Bridgerton, the second most popular on the service.

And since 2019, Netflix has had plenty of big competitors, from Disney+ to HBO Max.

In 2018, it collected nearly 50% of the revenue collected by video streaming platforms.

By 2023, the eMarketer firm predicts that its share will have fallen to 28%.

The group also regularly reminds that it considers YouTube and video games to be equally important threats.

It also launched its own mobile games at the end of last year.

"The company's recent inroads into e-commerce and video games show that it is looking to diversify its revenue," commented Paul Verna of eMarketer.

© 2022 AFP