Netflix (NFLX) 2Q26: Same-ish guide, more doubts

Research evidence excerpt

Netflix (NFLX) 2Q26: Same-ish guide, more doubts

Laurent Yoon +1 917 344 8502 laurent.yoon@bernsteinsg.com 17 July 2026

• The company guided to $12.86B of revenue for 3Q26, which is equivalent to +11.7% YoY and slightly lower than

consensus.

• Netflix’ management mentioned that they have three areas of focus to achieve their goals: 1) delivering more

entertainment value to members, 2) leveraging technology to improve service, and 3) improving monetization.

• Netflix shared that they will reduce the frequency of their “What We Watched” report, which discloses the quantity

of view hours watched on the platform, from a semi-annual to an annual publication.

• Management explained that there isn’t a linear relationship between view hours and revenue, and that they measure

engagement by more than just quantity of view hours but also the quality and variety of their offering. For example, live

events and animation both represent about 5% of the content budget. However, they represent 1% and 8% of view hours

respectively. The company estimates that both contribute similar value to the business despite one producing 8x the viewing

than the other because 6 out of the top 10 new member sign-up days over the past 5 years have come from live events.

• Netflix shared that they are encouraged with early video podcast performance. Approximately half of Netflix’ viewing

occurs in the evening, but the recently launched video podcasts over-index on viewing during the day and on mobile devices,

which is an indicator of engagement being incremental.

• Netflix shared that its recent price changes have gone well. Additionally, they mentioned that they are always testing

the best ways to bring new members to the platform, and that includes testing free trials for non-rejoining new members in