Netflix stock surges 14 percent as 7 million new customers sign up

Global streaming company Netflix added 6.96 million new customers this quarter, surpassing analyst predictions.

California-based streaming giant Netflix's stock rose 14 percent after the company reported a great third quarter. Performing even better than the second quarter that ended in July, the company has beaten all analysts predictions for the last five quarters.

The OTT platform added 6.96 million subscribers this quarter, beating analyst predictions of 5.1 million. It earned $4 billion with $.089 earnings per share, surpassing the projected EPS of $0.68.

The earnings report shows that about 1 million of the nearly 7 million new subscribers are from the US. Netflix has been highly successful because of international programming and production. In India, programmes like Sacred Games have become a ready hit with the audience.

However, subscription value is higher in terms of the American subscribers, reducing the relative value of international additions.

Netflix has to ready itself to compete with Apple and Disney who will both be launching their own direct-to-consumer service next year.

The current stock price $346 per share is nearly 70 percent higher since the beginning of the year. The company also has to compete with Amazon Prime, which has been shoring up its content.

In its earnings report for the first quarter of 2018, Netflix revealed that it added 7.4 million subscribers worldwide in the first three months of the year. However, 5 million of those were from overseas markets outside the US.

In India, companies like Reliance are about to launch streaming services soon. Lately, these OTT platforms have become strong contenders for the Oscars and are in direct competition with big production houses in Hollywood. In fact, all studios have to up their game to compete with the likes of Amazon and Netflix.

Even Walmart is getting into a partnership with several studios and will soon release its own original content.