This marks one year ago today since Netflix reported losing 970,000 subscribers during its first quarter. The company crawled out from under that rubble ever since. Netflix announced yesterday that for the second quarter of 2023, the streaming giant experienced a leap, or at least a bounce, with 5.9 million global subscribers to reach a total of 238.4 million subs.

The subscriber addition far outpaced industry guidance; analysts had forecast an increase of 1.7 million subs. Netflix ended Q1 with 232.5 million users.

News that the streamer had dropped its basic plan in the U.S. and the U.K. breaks a few hours before the results.

New subs cannot sign up for the ad-free $9.99 or £6.99/month Netflix anymore and are now required to pay $15.99 or £10.99 for the standard tier. It is also possible to downgrade to the ad-supported tier, which costs $6.99 or £4.99 per month. Netflix had done this for new subs in Canada last month when it quietly dropped its $9.99 CAD basic plan.

Netflix pulls the basic tier out of circulation in the U.S. and the U.K.
 
The company is now pulling the standard plan. This is among other revenue-generating strategies that Netflix tries to increase its income level. For instance, the company had just implemented its paid sharing policies in the United States where it has been unlawful to share the members' accounts freely with other people outside one's house or household. Members have been forced to pay $7.99/month for their additional membership.

A third reason Netflix' paid-sharing rule was good was because its paid sharing made a real impact on Netflix's subscription this quarter. In its letter to shareholders this month, Netflix said, "In May, we successfully launched paid sharing in 100+ countries, representing more than 80% of our revenue base." Said the company today, the firm was rolling out paid sharing "almost all of the remaining countries," including Croatia, Kenya, Indonesia, and India.

The media outlet covered the victory of the streamer in mentioning how the launch of the feature of an extra member had been successful. Having already reported from Antenna, the news outlet showed that after imposing the password crackdown, Netflix managed to gain nearly 100,000 signups per day.

Moreover, the ad-supported tier of Netflix brings the firm another source of revenue as it earns money from each viewer from the advertisers. Netflix announced during its first-ever Upfront presentation that it has nearly five million monthly active users on its ad plan. According to the latest report by Antenna, 17% to 20% of all new signups for the service in the second quarter were for its ad-supported tier.

Netflix reported a revenue of $8.2 billion with net income of $1.5 billion.