Netflix Says Strategy Is Unchanged as Shares Fall After Earnings

Netflix says it is not changing course, even though its shares fell about 6% after the market closed on the day it reported its third-quarter results. Speaking on the earnings call on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the company's business flywheel is working, and that there is no need for a fundamental shift in strategy (Deadline).

The plan, in his words, is "unchanged." It combines original shows and films made by Netflix, licensed content bought from other companies, and a growing live business. Sarandos described short-form video, and third-party or user-generated material, as early-stage projects with limited investment so far.

The company was more candid about the United States. Sarandos said the U.S. market is working, but it is not growing as fast as Netflix could or wants, and that Netflix does need better execution there. Analysts pressed the executives several times on how the company plans to respond to slower growth.

Money was the sharpest point. Netflix beat analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue for the quarter, according to Investing.com. Its full-year 2026 revenue guidance, meaning the company's own forecast, came in softer than expected, and the weakness was tied to advertising. Shares fell after hours.

The stock had already been struggling. Deadline reported that it had dropped more than 40% over the past year before the report. Yahoo Finance put the year-to-date fall above 25% just before the results (Yahoo Finance). The two figures measure different periods, so both can be true.

Some numbers pointed the other way. Netflix said churn, the share of subscribers who cancel, improved year on year both worldwide and in the U.S., and came in better than the company had forecast. Chief financial officer Spencer Neumann said the focus is on member growth, pricing and advertising, and that Netflix expects strong revenue growth into 2027.

The company also named Peter Rice as its new chief content officer, the executive in charge of what goes on the service. He is expected to lead the push to improve U.S. execution. Netflix plans to release 30 films in cinemas in 2026, and it has started reporting box office results, beginning with the film La Bola Negra.

For subscribers, the call was about direction and money rather than specific titles. The material available for this story does not mention any new series orders or cancellations. The next checkpoints are the company's future earnings reports, where it will show whether the U.S. plan and the advertising forecast move.