Netflix reported its first-quarter 2026 results on Thursday, revealing that both revenue and profit for the January-March period (when it was still in talks to acquire Warner Bros.) fell short of analysts’ expectations.
Revenue reached $12.25 billion, an increase of 16% compared to the comparable 2025 quarter. Netflix is not currently disclosing total subscriber numbers on a quarterly basis, but the streamer said its revenue growth in the first quarter was due to “subscription revenue slightly above plan.”
Across regions, sales increased 14% year over year in the United States and Canada ($5.2 billion), 17% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa ($4 billion), 19% in Latin America ($1.5 billion) and 20% in Asia Pacific.
As a result of these results, Netflix is reiterating its previous forecast for full-year 2026 revenue of $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion.
Since Netflix released its last quarterly results, it has implemented new price increases, which were announced on March 26 and were primarily implemented after the end of the first quarter. The impact of the price increase will be further reflected in Netflix’s financial results for the April-June period.
For the second quarter, Netflix said it expects revenue growth of 13%. “As we stated in our last quarter letter, the timing of title launches will result in content amortization growth being focused in the first half of the year. In 2026, we expect content amortization growth to be at its highest year-over-year in the second quarter, but to slow to mid-to-high single-digit growth in the second half of 2026.”
Netflix said the still-young advertising segment is expected to reach $3 billion in revenue this year, doubling from a year ago.
Net income was $5.3 billion. Free cash flow for the quarter was $5.1 billion.
On average, Wall Street analysts expect Netflix to report first-quarter revenue of $12.18 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of 76 cents, according to LSEG Data & Analytics. Netflix reported adjusted EPS of $1.23 on the $12.25 billion in revenue mentioned above.
In a letter to shareholders accompanying its earnings report, Netflix revealed that co-founder and former CEO Reed Hastings decided to step down from the streamer’s board in June. Hastings will step down as co-CEO in 2023, and Ted Sarandos will take over the top job alongside Greg Peters, who was promoted from chief operating officer.
The first-quarter results were released on the heels of Netflix’s back-and-forth battle with Paramount Skydance over its Warner Bros. studio and streaming assets. Netflix withdrew from the competition in late February after Paramount made a new offer that exceeded Netflix’s final bid and the streamer drew the line against making any further bids.
“Our mission is ambitious and has not changed: to entertain the world,” Netflix said in its earnings report Thursday. “No other entertainment company has attempted to develop programming at this scale for so many tastes, cultures and languages. Warner Bros. has done a great job of accelerating our strategy, but only at the right price. We have multiple ways to achieve our goals (including production, licensing and partnerships), and we are always looking to allocate our resources to the most compelling opportunities to maximize the value we provide to our members.”
Netflix shares fell 9% in after-hours trading after the earnings release.
