Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is eyeing more steady growth for his company’s total streaming revenue in 2018.
According to USA Today, Hastings predicted Netflix will pull in $15 billion in streaming revenue this year after totaling $11 billion in 2017.
While the increase looks significant, it follows growth trends the SVOD has seen during the previous two years. For 2016, Netflix reported $8.3 billion in global streaming revenue, up 35% year-over-year. For 2017, the $11 billion total was up about 36% year-over-year. And if $15 billion ends up being the actual total for streaming revenue at the end of fiscal 2018, then it will mark a slightly higher than 36% year-over-year increase.
That total does not include Netflix’s DVD business, which is still going but only adds an incremental $110 million to $120 million in revenue per quarter, according to Netflix’s 2017 figures. Despite the DVD business not contributing all that much, Hastings told USA Today that he believes it will stick around for at least another five years.
RELATED: Netflix adds nearly 2 million U.S. subscribers in Q4
When it reported its fourth-quarter results in January, Netflix did not provide revenue forecast for the first quarter or the full year. But the company did say that it expected to add 6.35 million subscribers (1.45 million domestic and 4.9 million international) during the first quarter. Netflix ended fiscal 2017 with about 117.6 million total subscribers.
Netflix also previously provided a glimpse at its anticipated expenses for 2018. The company now intends to spend between $7.5 billion and $8 billion this year on original programming. Netflix also raised investments in marketing and technology. The marketing budget for 2018 is now set at $2 billion and the technology and development budget will hit $1.3 billion in 2018.