Brett Schafer, The Motley Fool

Sat, May 24, 2025, 3:45 PM6 min read

• Netflix's management reportedly believes it can double revenue and triple operating income by 2030.

• The company is increasing prices and building out its advertising service.

• It can hit these goals, but it is unclear if the company will be worth $1 trillion by 2030.

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The world is Netflix's (NASDAQ: NFLX) oyster. That is what it has felt like over the past few years as the company has sucked all the oxygen out of the video streaming market.

Its global presence and huge catalog of content give it a competitive advantage over streaming rivals, which is why viewers flock to the service. Revenue continues to march higher, while profits are soaring.

Management does not think the growth party is over just yet. According to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, Netflix is aiming to reach a market cap of $1 trillion by 2030, which would be around double its current level at $500 billion. Here's the math behind the analysis and whether the company can hit these targets by the end of the decade.

Video streaming processed through the cloud has turned the media sector into a truly worldwide game. Netflix has taken advantage of this global pie, investing to produce video specifically in markets such as Europe, Latin America, South Korea, and India.

This global expansion is why it eclipsed 300 million total subscribers at the end of 2024, making it the largest pure-play premium video streamer in the world. With a global population of 8 billion and rising use of the internet every year, there is plenty of room to expand its total subscribers in the years to come.

Another factor for Netflix's success is pricing power. In the U.S., its premium subscription tier has gone from $11.99 a month in 2013 to $24.99 currently. This more than doubling in monthly subscription fees has helped revenue grow by close to 600% in the last 10 years.

More importantly, it has helped the company gain some operating leverage over its cost base, with operating income inflecting higher to $11.3 billion in the last few years. Free cash flow is now positive at $7.5 billion over the last 12 months, giving the company the flexibility to keep pushing for more growth globally.

By 2030, Netflix wants its advertising tier to generate around $9 billion in global ad sales, up from an estimated $2 billion currently. This advertising tier was launched in 2023 and is a huge driver of new sign-ups for Netflix.

As it rolls out globally, it will hopefully see even more customers sign up. Advertising has historically been a huge revenue driver for the media industry that Netflix decided to lay off of for a long while. Now, it is turning on this new revenue stream and hopes to see huge growth in the years to come.