What's going on?

Netflix � which received 24 Oscar nominations this year, more than any other studio � would like to thank its parents, its agent, and � sniffle � its investors for better-than-expected fourth-quarter results late on Tuesday.

What does this mean?

The streaming giant�s quarterly revenue was 31% higher than the same time last year, and a little more than investors expected � and its profit beat forecasts too. That was partly thanks to the 8.8 million subscribers it added globally: a big jump from the 7.6 million it promised it would deliver.


Netflix only plans to add 7 million paying subscribers this quarter, versus the 7.8 million investors were hoping for. But given that the company raised US subscribers� prices last week, it won�t need as many new Netflix-and-chillers to hit its revenue target � or to keep paying for that sweet, sweet content.

Why should I care?

For you personally: Survival of the fittest.

The streaming services are fighting a battle on multiple fronts: viewership, subscriptions, and now, backing from investors. But which service or services will win the war remains to be seen. Finimize Premium members have predominantly been in the Disney+ camp, thanks to both its better-than-expected launch last year and its monopoly on Marvel and Star Wars content. But Netflix�s strong quarter might mean there�s room for more than one winner � and with 62% of analysts positive on Netflix�s stock and 80% positive on Disney�s, investors may well agree (tweet this).

For markets: And they�re off!

US tech comprises almost 20% of the US stock market, which itself makes up almost half the global stock market � making their updates important to investors all over the world. And investors appeared to be pretty positive ahead of Netflix�s tech curtain-raiser: its stock had already risen over 20% in the last three months, and analysts� earnings estimates had climbed too. That might explain why Netflix�s stock didn�t rise much after Tuesday�s update.