The Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) share price is surging in after-hours trading after the streaming giant delivered better-than-expected quarterly results.
Netflix shares are currently lighting up 14% after hours after closing at US$240.86 overnight.
Netflix has had a torrid run so far in 2022 as growth has slowed and subscriber numbers have ground to a halt.
As it stands, Netflix shares have crumbled 60% this year to trade at levels not seen since 2018.
But Netflix's fortunes could be turning. The company has reversed its subscriber losses in the most recent quarter thanks to some big programming wins.
Netflix hits it out of the park in Q3 2022
For the third quarter of 2022, Netflix added 2.41 million net subscribers, well ahead of the company's guidance of 1 million.
This was underpinned by some big hits across TV and film during the quarter, including the likes of Stranger Things, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, The Gray Man, and Purple Hearts.
The fourth season of Stranger Things generated 1.35 billion hours viewed, making it Netflix's biggest-ever season of an English series.
Meanwhile, the Jeffrey Dahmer true crime limited series generated 824 million hours viewed in the first 28 days of its release. This makes it Netflix's second-largest English series.
This helped the streaming giant to deliver third-quarter revenue of US$7.93 billion. That's up 5.9% year on year and ahead of guidance of 5%.
Two major initiatives underway at Netflix are a crackdown on password sharing and a new, lower-priced, ad-supported subscription tier.
Coincidentally, this morning, I received an email from Netflix informing me of a new feature called 'Profile Transfer'. The idea here is to make life easy for borrowers to transfer their Netflix profile to their own account, carrying across recommendations, viewing history, watchlists, and the like.
The company will also launch its budget-friendly, ad-supported subscription plan in 12 countries next month, including Australia.
For $6.99 per month – four dollars less than the cheapest plan currently on offer – users will be shown an average of four to five minutes of unskippable ads per hour of viewing.
What does this mean for ASX 200 tech shares?
Netflix's better-than-expected results have boosted Nasdaq futures, which are up 1.5% according to Business Insider.
Combined with all three US benchmarks finishing in the green overnight, this has provided a positive lead for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) and ASX tech shares today.
At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has climbed 0.6% to 6,820 points.
Meanwhile, HUB24 Ltd (ASX: HUB) is currently the best-performing ASX 200 tech share. It's jumped 3.5% to $26.09.
Other top risers include BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN) and Altium Limited (ASX: ALU). These ASX 200 tech shares are up 2.2% and 1.7%, respectively, at the time of writing.
