Netflix crushes quarterly subscriber expectations thanks to fan faves like “Wednesday”

Autoplaying the next episode… just one more. Netflix shares surged 7% after the bell yesterday after it announced a subscription shocker: millions more subs than expected. The streaming OG added 7.7M paid subscribers last quarter — way better than the 4.5M forecast — as folks signed up to binge faves like “Emily in Paris.”

• Top quarterly hits: “Wednesday” was Netflix’s third most popular series ever, while “Harry & Meghan” was its second most popular docuseries. “Glass Onion” got big views too.

• Major plot twist: Netflix announced that its founder and longtime leader, Reed Hastings, would be stepping down from his position as co-CEO.

• Anticlimax: Netflix experienced its slowest quarterly revenue growth of all time (sales up less than 2% from last year) and badly missed on profit expectations (think: $55M compared to $1.4B the previous quarter).

When the ad hits on a cliffhanger… This was Netflix’s first quarter that included revenue from its $7/month ad-supported offering, which launched in November. But the word “ads” was mentioned just three times in its earnings report (“advertising” got four mentions). Still, Netflix said it was “pleased with the early results, with still much more to do.” Analysts say they haven’t seen much demand for the cheaper ad tier, which accounted for only 9% of November sign-ups.