The year 2024 has been one to remember for Netflix.
Crowned the winner of the streaming wars, the streamer solidified its already huge lead in subscribers — with more than 280 million paying users around the world as of the third quarter, generating billions of dollars in profit annually and sending its stock price soaring.
Meanwhile, Netflix continued to flex its first-mover advantage over cash-hungry rivals, who retrenched and returned to licensing their shows back to Netflix, which will likely fuel its continued dominance.
Netflix continues to put out hits that keep people watching and subscribing. Lately, it’s been leaning into popular fare like true crime and live events that have big advertiser — and water-cooler — appeal.
It’s continued to capitalize on its password-sharing crackdown and is ramping up ad tech and measurement deals to entice more advertisers to buy on the platform.
Netflix faces questions about how much more it can grow its audience without sacrificing profits, whether it can compete for ad dollars with the likes of Amazon’s Prime Video, and how it can capture younger viewers who grew up on YouTube.
But for now, here’s a look back at the biggest swings Netflix took this past year:
A massive push into live sports
Netflix swung big into live programming in 2024, a format that’s key to its burgeoning ad business.
The streamer hosted its most-watched live event to date in November, a glitch-ridden boxing bout between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson that drew 60 million live viewers. And it’ll close the year with another spectacle: its first Christmas Day NFL game, which will include Beyoncé performing at half-time.
Stellar advertising growth amid an executive shake-up
Netflix has undergone leadership changes across multiple teams this year. In advertising, where the company harbors vast ambitions, Ampersand’s Nicolle Pangis replaced Peter Naylor as VP of advertising.
The move came as Netflix reported stellar growth for ad-supported subscribers in 2024 — to the tune of 70 million, up from 40 million in May.
Next up for ads? Netflix is building its own ad technology to further open the spigot, which it said will roll out next year.
A leadership and strategy overhaul in film
At the beginning of the year, Netflix parted ways with longtime movie chief Scott Stuber.
The New York Times reported in April that Stuber clashed with higher-ups over what kind of movies to make. Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria told staff in a meeting that quality needed to improve as the company shifted strategy.
Incoming film boss Dan Lin entered with a streamlined vision.
Rather than big-budget action films and big-name stars, he sought to diversify the company’s offering, prioritizing in-house producers and skipping theatrical releases. Lin also ended the massive upfront checks the company had been writing to movie stars.
True crime hits with real-world consequences
Netflix continued to focus on true crime this year. But while its series were enormously popular, some plunged the streamer into controversy.
The stalker saga “Baby Reindeer” and the scammer series “Inventing Anna” drew defamation suits, which Netflix said it would defend. And Netflix’s two projects about the Menendez brothers — a Ryan Murphy-produced drama and an accompanying documentary — were also ensconced in controversy.
The brothers’ families criticized the show, though Murphy has said the brothers should be grateful given the attention the project received. In October, Los Angeles’s top prosecutor recommended the brothers be resentenced with the option of parole.
A password crackdown continued to fuel growth
Subscribers initially balked at Netflix’s bid to ban password sharing, but in the end, the streamer prevailed.
The move helped to fuel impressive earnings reports this year, with subscriber growth that repeatedly surpassed expectations — and caused its stock to soar.
While Netflix has emerged as the clear victor of the streaming wars, that wasn’t always a foregone conclusion given the loads of debt it previously accrued to fund its production war chest. Today, the streamer is forecasting billions of dollars in profit while competitors struggle to break even.
That said, analysts expect the effects of Netflix’s password crackdown to diminish in the future.
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