Netflix India’s profit jumps 49% in FY24; revenue up 30%

Netflix’s India unit saw significant growth in its net profit and revenue for the year ended March 31, 2024 (FY24), driven by a rising subscriber base and a stronger lineup of local content

The video streaming platform reported a 49 percent increase in its profit after tax to Rs 52.4 crore for the year, from Rs 35.3 crore in FY23, as per the firm’s latest filing with the Registrar of Companies, shared by business intelligence platform Tofler.

Net turnover rose by 28.5 percent to Rs 2,845.7 crore in FY24, from Rs 2,214.1 crore in FY23. The company’s total income grew by 30 percent to Rs 2,895.6 crore in FY24 from Rs 2,228 crore in FY23.

During the financial year, Netflix cut its personnel expenses by 10.6 percent to Rs 105.98 crore, from Rs 118.5 crore in FY23. Other expenses, which include marketing costs, however increased by 32.3 percent to Rs 2,688.4 crore for the year, from Rs 2,032.7 crore in FY23.

This resulted in the service’s total expenses growing by 29 percent to Rs 2,810.8 crore for the year, from Rs 2,174.2 crore in FY23.

India has become an increasingly important market for Netflix’s future growth in recent years, while also serving as a key content hub for the platform. This comes amid a rising appetite for digital content among consumers in the world’s second-largest internet market.

Last year, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos had said that India is a “big prize” because it has an enormous population of entertainment-loving people and they will “ultimately do great” in the country.

Netflix is currently among the costliest video streaming services in India, however, in recent years, the service has taken several steps to attract customers in the country. This includes introducing a mobile-only plan and piloting various pricing experiments in the country.

The streaming service has also struck partnerships with India’s prominent telecom operators Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone to bundle its services with select prepaid and postpaid plans.

In July, Netflix stated that India was its second-largest market for paid subscriber additions and its third-largest in revenue growth percentage for the June-ended quarter, without disclosing any specific details. The growth was driven by big successful original titles such as Sanjay Leela Bansali’s Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar and Imtiaz Ali’s Amar Singh Chamkila during the quarter, it said in a letter to shareholders at the time.

While Netflix does not provide a country-wise breakdown of its subscriber numbers, industry estimates peg Netflix’s paid membership base in India at around 12 million. For the September-ended quarter (Q3 2024), Netflix reported having 52.6 million subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region, which includes India.

In April, the company announced its intention to stop reporting quarterly paid membership additions in Q1 2025. This decision was taken because the firm said it now has multiple pricing tiers across various markets due to which each incremental paid membership has a different business impact.

Netflix now aims to focus on revenue and operating margin as its primary financial metrics, while considering engagement the best proxy for member satisfaction.

The streaming major is however set to face tough competition in the country following Reliance Industries’ joint venture with Disney, which combines the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India. The deal includes JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar, two of India’s top streaming services.

Amazon is also strengthening its presence in the market. The online retail giant recently acquired certain assets of its former rival MX Player, including its apps and select content from its library and merged them with its ad-supported service, miniTV, to create Amazon MX Player. Other players in the space include ZEE5, Sony LIV, and Apple TV+.

In February, Netflix unveiled its 2024 content slate for the India market to strengthen its offerings. The slate comprised 22 titles, including 8 films and 14 series.

Among the new titles include a docu-series that chronicles the cricket rivalry between India and Pakistan on-and off-the-field, called The Greatest Rivalry – India vs Pakistan; a documentary on the life of the hip hop artist and rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh called Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous.

Netflix will also offer new seasons of several of its popular series, such as Mismatched Season 3, Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein Season 2 and Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives. MoneyControl