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Netflix (NFLX) Q3 2026 Earnings: Revenue Up 12%, Margin 34.6%, Ad Forecast Trimmed

Steven Levine, Founder of TickerPosts and OpenClassActions.com1 min read
A couple sitting on a couch watching television, one holding a remote.
Illustrative photo by Annushka Ahuja on Pexels

Netflix reported third-quarter 2026 results on October 20. Its shareholder letter puts revenue at $12.87 billion, up 12% from a year earlier (11% excluding currency effects) and consistent with the company’s forecast.

Profit ran ahead of plan

Operating income was $4.46 billion, up 37%, for an operating margin of 34.6% compared with 28.2% in the third quarter of 2025. Netflix attributed the margin beat against its own forecast primarily to the timing of expenses plus slightly higher revenue. Diluted earnings per share were $0.87 versus $0.59. Free cash flow was $2.88 billion. The letter says churn improved year over year globally and in the United States and that member response to 2026 price changes matched prior adjustments.

Full-year outlook, with one reduction

For the fourth quarter Netflix expects revenue of $13.4 billion, up 12%, and an operating margin of 26%, which includes about 120 basis points of cost from recently announced headcount reductions. For all of 2026 it expects revenue of $51.1 billion, growth of 13%, and a 31.5% operating margin versus 29.5% in 2025.

The revenue figure sits 0.2% below the midpoint of the prior range. Subscription revenue has outperformed, but Netflix now expects 2026 advertising revenue of about $2.7 billion rather than approximately $3 billion, citing a slower rollout of some ad product capabilities.

What to compare next

For readers following NFLX, the two numbers that changed are the ad revenue forecast and the margin cost of the workforce reduction. Netflix no longer reports subscriber counts, so revenue growth against the company’s own guidance, operating margin, and free cash flow remain the measures to track. Full-year guidance is management’s current forecast and can change.

Published October 21, 2026. Informational reporting, not investment advice. Figures are from the company's own earnings release filed with the SEC; no share-price outcome is inferred and no analyst-consensus beat is claimed.

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