Netflix increased paid memberships in the Asia Pacific region to 26.85 million in the first quarter of this year, with average revenue per membership in the region up 9% to US$9.71, the streamer said in its Q1 financials released overnight.

Asia Pacific revenue increased to US$762 million – the fifth straight quarter of growth.

Net paid additions were 1.36 million – lower than the last quarter of 2020 but higher than the 1.01 million reported in Q3 2020. In Q1 last year, Netflix reported 3.60 million net paid additions in Asia Pacific.

Globally, Netflix ended Q1 with 208 million paid memberships – up 14% year on year, but below its guidance of 210 million.

Revenue grew 24% year over year, and operating profit and margin reached all-time highs, Netflix said.

Netflix attributed some of the slower-than-expected growth to the lighter content slate coming out of Covid-19 rather than to increased competition from global streaming platforms, and said it expected paid membership growth will “re-accelerate” in the second half of this year with the return of shows such as “Sex Education”, “The Witcher”, “La Casa de Papel” (aka “Money Heist”) and “You”, along with a Korean special based on “Kingdom” and Indian action thriller “Dhamaka”.

Content spend this year is expected to top US$17 billion.

Addressing a question about Asian content investment, co-founder, chairman, president and co-CEO, Reed Hastings, described Japan and Korea as “big, developed rich markets”, but said in India “we’re still figuring things out”.

In India, he said, “we're still mostly focused on getting a content fit”.

Chief content officer Ted Sarandos said India was a “tremendous opportunity… and like all great opportunities, it's a long journey, and it's a challenge. And we think it's worth it”.