Netflix guides to $13.44 billion in Q4 revenue, short of $13.51 billion estimate

The forecast lands days after Netflix said it would cut staff by 6% and days after it signed a rights deal to show Spain's FIFA World Cup matches.

Netflix said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $13.44 billion, below the $13.51 billion that analysts had expected.

The guidance follows a quarter in which Netflix had itself forecast revenue of about $12.86 billion and earnings of $0.82 a share, according to Insider Finance. That matched analyst consensus of roughly $12.88 billion in revenue and $0.82 in earnings heading into the report, IndMoney reported. In the prior quarter, Netflix reported revenue of $12.56 billion, up 13.4% from a year earlier, with earnings of $0.80 a share and an operating margin of 33.4%, Insider Finance reported. A year earlier, in the third quarter of 2025, Netflix posted revenue of $11.51 billion, up 17.2%, with earnings of $0.59 a share, IndMoney reported.

Netflix's full-year 2026 guidance calls for an operating margin of 31.5%, with operating income expected to rise more than 20% from a year earlier, Insider Finance reported. Shares had fallen about 40% over the prior year heading into the report and were trading at $69.35, below both their 50-day average of $74.88 and 200-day average of $82.66, and just above a 52-week low of $65.08, 24/7 Wall St. reported.

The softer outlook comes as Netflix has been moving to cut costs, including a planned reduction of 6% of its staff, even as it keeps adding to its content and sports commitments, among them a rights deal to broadcast Spain's FIFA World Cup matches. The combination raises the question of whether spending on content and rights is starting to outpace subscriber revenue growth, and whether Netflix can tighten its operations while its content commitments keep expanding.