Netflix $NFLX reported second-quarter revenue of $12.56 billion on Thursday, up 13% year over year, while announcing it would cut back on the frequency of its viewership disclosure reports.
The streaming company reported $12.56 billion in revenue and said it will move its "What We Watched" reports to once a year
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Netflix $NFLX reported second-quarter revenue of $12.56 billion on Thursday, up 13% year over year, while announcing it would cut back on the frequency of its viewership disclosure reports.
The company posted earnings of 80 cents per share, a penny ahead of the 79-cent consensus, while its $12.56 billion in revenue fell just short of the $12.59 billion analysts had projected, according to CNBC. Net income totaled $3.4 billion for the quarter, up from $3.13 billion a year ago. Operating margin was 33.4%.
The company said revenue and operating margin were in line with its own guidance. It narrowed its full-year 2026 revenue forecast to a range of $51 billion to $51.4 billion, from a prior range of $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion, and maintained its full-year operating margin target of 31.5%. For the third quarter, Netflix guided for revenue of $12.86 billion and an operating margin of 33.2%.
On viewership, Netflix said members watched more than 97 billion hours of content in the first half of 2026, up 2% year over year. But the company said that after releasing its H1 2026 "What We Watched" report Thursday, it would shift to publishing the report once a year in the first quarter, beginning in 2027, rather than alongside quarterly earnings. "The goal of separating the publication of the report from our earnings results is to keep the focus on our primary financial metrics — revenue and operating profit," the company said in its shareholder letter.
The timing attracted notice because the company's engagement numbers have faced increased scrutiny amid reporting that audiences for Netflix series tend to fall off after a show's debut season.
Netflix reiterated its expectation that ad revenue will reach around $3 billion this year, representing a near-doubling compared with 2025. The company disclosed that Upfront talks with domestic advertisers are nearing conclusion, with deals anticipated to be finalized within weeks.
Free cash flow in the second quarter was $1.5 billion, down from $2.3 billion in the same period a year earlier, a decline the company attributed in part to higher cash tax payments tied to a termination fee related to its abandoned pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery's film and streaming assets. Netflix repurchased $4.7 billion of its own stock during the quarter, which the company described as its largest quarter of share repurchases. The board had authorized an additional $25 billion repurchase program in April.
Netflix stock fell more than 8% in after-hours trading on Thursday.
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