Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) Q3 2018 Earnings Conference Transcript
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Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX)
Q3 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Oct. 16, 2018, 6:00 p.m. ET

Contents:

  • Prepared Remarks

  • Questions and Answers

  • Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Spencer Wang -- VP of IR and Corporate Development

Good afternoon. Welcome to the Netflix Q3 2018 earnings interview. I'm Spencer Wang, VP of IR and Corporate Development. Joining me today are CEO, Reed Hastings; CFO, David Wells; Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos; and Chief Product Officer, Greg Peters. Our interviewer this quarter is Eric Sheridan from UBS. As a reminder, we will be making forward-looking statements, and actual results may vary. With that, over to you now, Eric, for the first question.

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Questions and Answers:

Eric Sheridan -- UBS Securities -- Analyst

Thank you, Spencer. Maybe I'll kick off with what clearly is the headline from the earnings results. Much better subscriber performance in Q3, and a fairly robust guide within Q4 in terms of looking out over subscribers. I'll throw it to you guys to sort of layout the framework you saw develop in Q3, what do you think might develop in Q4 that was different than what happened earlier in the year.

Reed Hastings -- Founder and Chief Executive Officer

You know, Eric, I think we're getting a little better on the forecasting, particularly the evolution to paid net adds. So, if you look at that paid net add growth that we showed, you can see how remarkably steady. I'm afraid the Q2-Q3 story is probably mostly an issue of forecasting, as opposed to anything changing in the business. You can see the noise that the free trials added into the paid, which gives you the total creates. So I think by focusing going forward on paid, we'll be able to be a little more accurate and focus on the fundamentals.

Eric Sheridan -- UBS Securities -- Analyst

When you think about some of the distribution deals you've done over the last couple years, that's creating some noise that I think you're now trying to clear up with these new disclosures. But can you also talk a little bit about what those distribution deals may be in terms of opening up pockets of the market that hadn't been available to you before? Not only just this year, but as you think out longer term about the business.