SAN FRANCISCO - Netflix said subscriber numbers grew nearly 11 percent to 247 million in the recently ended third quarter as it cracked down on password sharing and refined an ad-supported tier.
The leading streaming service said it is increasing the price of its basic plan in the United States to $11.99 monthly and its premium plan to $22.99, with similar price "adjustments" set for Britain and France.
"While we mostly paused price increases as we rolled out paid sharing... as we deliver more value to our members, we occasionally ask them to pay a bit more," Netflix said in the letter to shareholders.
Netflix shares leapt more than 12 percent to $43.31 in after-market trades on the Nasdaq exchange.
The streaming service said in an earnings report that its nascent ad-supported offering was gaining traction, with the number of users increasing nearly 70 percent over the quarter.
Netflix reported a profit of $1.68-billion on revenue of $8.5-billion in the quarter, beating market expectations with its earnings figures.
"All-in-all, management's working hard to squeeze every last drop of cash possible from the available subscriber base, but as that cup begins to run dry, it will be a lot more important to understand exactly how successful the next phase of growth can be," said Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
In May the Silicon Valley giant expanded its crackdown on users sharing passwords with people beyond their immediate family, as it seeks to shore up revenue.
To convert non-paying users, Netflix has introduced "borrower" or "shared" accounts, in which subscribers can add extra viewers for a higher price, or transfer viewing profiles to new accounts.
In a separate bid for revenue, Netflix launched an ad-subsidized offering around the same time as the crackdown and later eliminated its lowest priced ad-free plan.
The ad-supported tier, launched late last year, costs $7.