Netflix has added 9.33 million paid subscribers in Q1, a 16 percent year-over-year increase to 269.6 million worldwide. The growth, attributed largely to a password-sharing crackdown, has delivered the company’s strongest first-quarter customer expansion since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The dominant global streamer boosted Q1 revenue by nearly 15 percent year-over-year, to $9.37 billion, and drove profits to more than $2.3 billion for the quarter, a 78.7 percent gain over the same period last year (and a 148 percent leap from Q4’s $938 million). A surprise to many, Netflix announced it will cease reporting quarterly subscriber gains in Q1 2025.

Deadline called the news about subscriber reporting a “shocker,” CNBC added “the move suggests Netflix’s second wave of subscriber growth from its crackdown on password sharing could slow down next year.”

Netflix itself said in its shareholder letter that the change is due to the fact that as a mature business revenue and operating margin are more telling metrics, as is viewership.

“In our early days, when we had little revenue or profit, membership growth was a strong indicator of our future potential, but now we’re generating very substantial profit and free cash flow. We are also developing new revenue streams like advertising,” the company stated.

CNBC points out that the Q1 numbers also reflect the introduction of a less expensive advertising-supported tier taking hold, reporting “the ad tier costs $6.99 per month in the U.S. as opposed to its $15.49 standard plan.” Netflix said that with multiple tiers “each incremental paid membership has a very different business impact.”

Netflix has spent the last year implementing paid alternatives to password-sharing, as well as “working to expand its ad business and changing its line-up of prices and plans to better position itself for the future,” writes The Wall Street Journal, underscoring its success.

“The streamer’s continued growth comes as competitors like Disney and Paramount push to make their streaming services profitable. While some traditional entertainment companies grapple with password-sharing crackdowns and improving their recommendation engines, Netflix is already benefiting from such product features,” WSJ reports.

“In the nearly five years since the launch of Apple TV+, the tech giant has never reported any subscriber data. Amazon, similarly, does not break out Prime Video subscribers or viewers as a discrete population,” Deadline shares.