Netflix Had A Massive First Half Of The Year

Netflix has had a massive first half to the year, despite facing increased competition from the likes of Disney+, HBO Max, and, uh, Quibi. The streaming service added 26 million subscribers during that period of time, the company announced as part of its latest earnings report. That far exceeds the new subscriber growth it saw during the same period of time last year, when it added just 12 million paying users--and it nearly matches the full-year total of 28 million for all of 2019.

"We live in uncertain times with restrictions on what we can do socially and many people are turning to entertainment for relaxation, connection, comfort and stimulation," the company said as part of its quarterly earnings report. "In Q1 and Q2, we saw significant pull-forward of our underlying adoption leading to huge growth in the first half of this year."

Netflix did note that this may lead to lower-than-expected growth in the second half of the year. It says that "growth is slowing as consumers get through the initial shock of Covid and social restrictions."

The huge boost in subscribers accounts for the "small percentage" of accounts it canceled due to lack of use. Earlier this year, Netflix said it would automatically shut off inactive accounts to "save people some hard-earned cash."

While the coronavirus has led to a spike in users, it has disrupted production on Netflix's original content. Its release plans for original shows and movies slated for 2020 are "largely intact," although next year will see original content shift toward releasing in the second half of the year. Despite that, Netflix says its full slate of original content for 2021 "will still be higher than 2020."