Netflix Q2: 2% Viewing Growth Now Carries The $3 Billion Ad Bet

Viewing hours grew 2% in the first half of 2026, co-CEO Greg Peters said in the company's earnings interview , adding 1.5 billion hours and slightly improving on the 1.5% growth recorded a year earlier.

Before giving the figure, Peters reframed the debate: “There is not a linear relationship between view hours and revenue and profit, because all hours are not created equal.”

Live programming is his clearest example.

Peters said it will consume 5% of Netflix's content budget this year but produce only 1% of viewing hours, even though six of the company's 10 biggest sign-up days over the past five years came from live events.

That argument arrived precisely on schedule.

Netflix is now asking investors to judge engagement not only by how long people watch, but also by what that viewing does for subscriptions, advertising and customer loyalty.

Content expense is expected to rise about 10% this year, while first-half viewing hours grew 2%.

Netflix is therefore spending more on programming than the audience is growing in raw hours.

Its advertising business still has to expand across that gap .

Co-CEO Ted Sarandos came prepared for the question about audiences abandoning shows after their first seasons.

Netflix is “not seeing any material change” across its full slate, he said, and season-two declines have “actually slightly improved this year relative to last year.”

Sarandos argued that some drop-off is normal because Netflix launches shows to unusually large global audiences.

He also dismissed analyses based on a small selection of titles: “You can pick any five data points to tell any story you want.”