Netflix bullish despite trade tariff turbulence

Netflix is not expecting to be hit by the economic turbulence caused by Donald Trump’s US tariffs, senior execs have said.

Co-chief exec Greg Peters discussed the value of home entertainment in what he termed “difficult economies” and said his company’s service offered “tremendous value in absolute terms and certainly in competitive terms.”

“We really do expect the demand to remain strong,” he continued, pointing to lower-cost ad-supported options as being a driver.

Netflix has previously said the ad-supported tier makes up 55% of new sign-ups in countries where it is available.

US media companies have seen valuations slide recently, with more than $16bn wiped off the value of Warner Bros Discovery, Roku, Fox Corp and Disney in the immediate wake of the tariffs. Netflix, however, has seen its share price rise by almost 2% over the past month.

Peters’ comments followed the streamer’s strong Q1 results last week that showed revenues had risen year-on-year to $10.54bn (£7.8bn), while earnings per share increased from $5.28 in 2024 to $6.61.

The results marked the first time that Netflix had not reported its subscriber count, having ended 2024 with 301.6 million paying customers.

The Adolescence and Zero Day streamer said its strong revenue growth, which beat Wall Street predictions, was driven by membership growth and price rises.

Netflix increased its prices in countries including the UK and the US last week and said it expected the changes to push revenues up by 15% in Q2.

It also said it expects revenues across 2025 to hit between $43.5bn-$44.5bn (£32.5bn-£33.3bn), assuming “healthy member growth, higher subscription pricing and a rough doubling of our ad revenue.”

The streamer also confirmed last week that co-founder Reed Hastings would become a non-exec director, stepping away from his exec chairman position.

The company described his move as “part of the natural evolution of our leadership structure and succession planning.”