Shares of Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) declined by 8.3% in early Friday trading following the company's second-quarter earnings report, which was largely in line with Wall Street expectations but included an announcement to reduce the frequency of its user viewing data disclosures.
The Q2 results, released on Thursday, showed revenue reaching $12.56 billion, a 13% increase year-over-year. The company attributed the double-digit growth to higher advertising revenue, membership growth, and pricing adjustments. Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann stated on the earnings call that the pricing changes were "going well."
Despite the growth, Netflix's revenue fell slightly short of the Wall Street consensus estimate of $12.59 billion, while earnings per share of 80 cents slightly exceeded the expected 79 cents.
Additionally, the company narrowed its full-year 2026 revenue forecast range, adjusting it from the previous $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion to a new range of $51.0 billion to $51.4 billion.
Netflix announced that its "What We Watched" viewing data report will shift from its current semi-annual schedule to an annual release, to be published in the first quarter of each year. The company stated, "Decoupling the report from our financial results is intended to focus attention on our core financial metrics—revenue and operating profit. With this change, we will still provide industry-leading data on viewing per title and total hours viewed."
Co-CEO Greg Peters remarked on the earnings call, "Hours viewed is not a linear indicator of revenue and profit because not all hours viewed are equal, and live programming is a great example of that." This move follows the company's earlier decision to stop reporting quarterly subscriber numbers at the beginning of 2025.
Peters also noted that while live programming represents only about 5% of the company's budget, it is estimated to account for just 1% of total hours viewed. However, six of the company's top ten new sign-up days over the past five years occurred following live events.
As of Thursday's close, Netflix shares were down more than 41% compared to the same period last year and have fallen over 20% year-to-date.