As a reminder, Netflix’s 2025 earnings were released this week, which included a few headlines:

* $45.1bn in revenue, up 16% year on year; 29.5% profit margin

* 325m subscribers - as they no longer report on their subscriber numbers, the fact they included them is evidence it is considered a standout performance internally

* $1.5bn on advertising income, with a target to double that in 2026

* Increase content spend in 2026 to $20bn.

Here is a helpful visual from How They Make Money’s post Netflix:The Siege of Burbank

To put that in context, the annual revenues for their competitors include the following, although this is a ballpark comparison, as many haven’t reported for 2025, plus some don’t report on specific businesses such as YouTube, so these are analysts’ estimates:

* Disney - $91bn

* Amazon - $500bn+; advertising income - $56bn

* YouTube - analysts expect $46bn in advertising for 2025

* Meta Reels - reported a runrate of $50bn

* TikTok - $17bn.

Business of TV is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

All this is against the backdrop of Netflix’s bid to buy Warner Bros., which is causing some disquiet amongst shareholders.

* Fortune: Netflix stock sinks after earnings call, as confident co-CEOs can’t quell investor fears over the Warner Bros. bid

* CNN: Netflix revises its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery. Now, it’s all cash

* Hollywood Reporter: Netflix Surpassed 325 Million Subscribers at the End of 2025

Here are two share price visuals, the first over the last five days which had the earnings call and new offer for Warner Bros., the second is the last 12 months:

So, with all that in mind, hopefully the discussion covers useful ground for producers to consider. We touched on a whole host of topics around Netflix’s 2025 earnings, and not just about the streamer, but also:

* Netflix’s competitive advantage

* Business models and how to stay ahead on the age of disruption

* Netflix and new strategies to be the entertainment brand of choice - podcasting, games, advertising

* The battle to be the operating system of all our lives

* How advertising changes businesses and the idea of customer exhaustion

* Whether Netflix’s ad strategy will lead to more commissioning of the longer run series such as procedurals, sitcoms and soaps that thrived under the old syndication model

* The value of the HBO machine (and apologies, I misspoke and referenced Breaking Bad which obviously is an AMC show!)

* Netflix’s potential vulnerability against competitors who are more diversified

* Why hasn’t Netflix entered the cloud streaming business like Amazon Web Services?

* Who would you bet on being the winner in terms of being the everything platform

* Amazon is the dark horse of the streaming.

For more, here are couple of items worth your time - firstly Emily Horgan on Netflix’s engagement numbers and kids content:

Media industry analyst Ian Whittaker and advertising expert Justin Lebbon have launched a podcast which looks at the media industry from the financial markets perspective - here is their first episode, which includes a section on Netflix and Warner Bros (from 26 mins).

Lastly here is the interview with Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters around these earnings:

Thanks for reading Business of TV! This post is public so feel free to share it.