Netflix reels in £1.4bn from its subscribers in Britain

NETFLIX has revealed how much it makes from British subscribers for the first time, with streaming revenue here reaching almost £1.4bn last year.

The streaming giant’s UK business made £1.38bn in sales for the year ending December 2021, according to accounts published yesterday. Its business handling subscriptions here in the UK made a pre-tax profit of £27.9m. It paid tax of £5.2m during the year.

The Californian tech company’s UK operating arm also paid out a £50m dividend to its parent company in August, accounts show, marking the first time its main UK subsidiary has done so.

Industry analysts had estimated that Netflix was earning more than £1bn from its British customers but this is the first time the company has publicly disclosed figures.

Netflix previously wrapped UK subscriber sales into accounts filed in the Netherlands, which is home to its European headquarters.

Separate accounts for Netflix’s studios business, which makes films such as Enola Holmes, show revenues there grew by almost a third last year to reach just over £100m.

Britain has become a major filming hub for the company, which last year announced a deal to double the size of the studio space it rents in Shepperton in Surrey. The company has been investing hundreds of millions of dollars into producing original shows, many produced in the UK, as it battles to stem a downturn in subscribers amid fierce competition.

Earlier this year Netflix announced its first drop in subscriber numbers in a decade, with one million customers cancelling their deals in three months.

The fall, combined with concerns about rising interest rates, has prompted Netflix’s New York-listed shares to plunge 67pc from highs of $690 (£622) in October 2021 to $240. Netflix declined to comment.