We rarely get comprehensive data from Netflix about its subscriber numbers and revenue, so it’s always worth paying attention when they do crack the data vault. With the UK currently serving as their most important production hub after the US itself, seeing strong figures here is always of interest. Our entertainment lawyer Los Angeles on the ground, Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A. breaks it all down for us.
Revenue and Subscriber Growth
Netflix UK posted £1.54 billion ($1.9 billion) in sales for the 12 months ending December 2022, marking a 12% growth from the previous year’s revenue of £1.4 billion. Pre-tax profits also saw a 22% increase, reaching £34.1 million for the year.
Although the exact number of UK subscribers remains undisclosed, data from the audience research body BARB indicates that 17.2 million British households had access to Netflix by the end of 2022, representing a 3% year-on-year increase. The earnings report from Netflix Services UK also highlighted a 4% growth in the average number of paid memberships and a 14% rise in the average revenue generated per subscriber.
Knock-On Effects
Of course, with greater transparency, mostly foisted onto Netflix by changed local regulations, comes greater governmental interest. Netflix has faced a great deal of criticism for low tax payments in the UK space for a while now. On the heels of this revenue reporting, we see a boost to £6.4 million in income tax paid for the year, compared to £5.3 million in 2021. Netflix itself attributes the majority of this increase to its increased commitment to making series and films in the UK. Interestingly, they have also taken on almost a third more employees in the UK despite the rocky economic climate, bringing the total to 202. They were quite keen to brag about this increased job creation in the same report, too.
Overall, it seems this arm of the global streaming giant is managing to turn in a stellar performance in an economic climate that has been more bust than boom. It will be interesting to see if we get similar figures for their US operations as Q3 closes.
Film and Television 