(Reuters) – Netflix Inc forecast third-quarter paid subscriber additions below Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, as the streaming giant faces intense competition from deep-pocketed players and the stay-at-home boost wanes.
The company’s shares were down 5% at $505.05 in extended trading.
Apart from production delays, newer entrants in the streaming space such as Disney+, HBO Max and Apple TV+ are touting rich content libraries and competitive pricing. That has slowed Netflix’s subscriber growth, when compared with booming additions at the height of the pandemic last year.
Netflix said it expects to add 3.50 million paid subscribers in the third quarter, compared with analysts’ estimates of 5.51 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
The company said it added 1.54 million paid subscribers during the second quarter ended June 30, beating analysts’ estimates of 1.04 million.
(Reporting by Eva Mathews and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
