Netflix UK’s profits leapt by three-quarters last year with the streamer registering a post-tax figure of £46.5m, according to its latest financial accounts.
The figure was up 74% from 2022’s £26.7m post-tax operating profit. The company also saw pre-tax figures rising 70% from £31.6m to £53.7m.
Netflix’s profit was able to weather its tax bill, which almost doubled from the £7.5m paid in 2022 to the £14.2m shelled out in 2023.
In a Companies House filing from its main UK entity, Netflix Services UK, the SVoD major reported an 8% revenue increase in 2023, reaching £1.7bn compared with £1.5bn in 2022. The increase was less steep than the 12% rise it recorded between 2021 and 2022.
Netflix attributed the jump due to a “larger member base”, with the average number of paid memberships and increase in average monthly revenue per paying member (ARPU) growing by 7%. Though Netflix doesn’t break down subscriber numbers for the UK, it grew its overall members by 8.1m to reach 278m globally in its most recent financial results. According to Barb’s most recent Establishment Survey data, Netflix is in 17.1m UK homes.
In 2023, Netflix launched UK series including tentpole documentary Beckham, which was seventh in its What We Watched viewership report for the second half of the year totalling 43.9m views, and Sex Education S4, which was just above Beckham with 46.3m views.
Other notable releases included the final series of The Crown and high-concept sci-fi crime series Bodies.
The streamer’s UK business has had a stand-out year in 2024, with locally commissioned and UK-filmed titles Fool Me Once, Baby Reindeer, The Gentlemen and Bridgerton dominating Netflix’s most-watched shows in 2024. More than a quarter of the streamer’s top 20 shows were commissioned out of the UK, with dramas One Day and Eric and true crime documentary American Nightmare all making the cut.
Fellow UK tentpole Supacell also had a successful launch and was recommissioned for a second series. However, Netflix received online backlash for cancelling high-profile Greek mythology-themed UK series Kaos yesterday (October 9).
Praising the UK’s creativity at RTS London last month, co-chief Ted Sarandos said: “When you make something authentic that appeals to certain people in certain places it tends to appeal to a lot of people in a lot of places.”
A version of this story first appeared on Broadcast
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