Could Netflix Stock Help You Become a Millionaire?

Back in 2002, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) went public at $15 per share. Today, after several stock splits and enormous returns, a single share bought then would have grown into a stake worth more than $11,000. So it’s safe to say the streamer has already made some early investors very wealthy.

In 2026, how much potential does Netflix offer to help create a new round of millionaires? Here’s the investing case.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks »

Two revenue growth opportunities stand out for the company: experiences and podcasts.

Beyond making money from streaming its shows and movies into homes, Netflix can borrow a page from Disney‘s playbook and turn its valuable intellectual property (IP) into experiences.

Disney’s experiences division includes consumer products, a cruise line, and its international and domestic theme parks. In the company’s fiscal 2025, that segment reported record operating income of $10 billion, up $723 million from the prior year. That was more than half of Disney’s total operating income for the year.

Now, Netflix is beginning to turn some of its IP into real‑world experiences. It opened Netflix House locations in Dallas and Philadelphia in late 2025. Each of the venues offers different experiences. In Dallas, guests can try a Stranger Things escape room, for example, while the Philadelphia site offers experiences built around One Piece and Wednesday. Both also feature food inspired by the streamer’s shows, and sell Netflix-branded merchandise. The company has not made the financial results from this new business segment public, but it plans to expand the experiment with a Las Vegas venue in 2027.

The other big potential revenue growth engine for Netflix is video podcasts, which could help it expand its total addressable market. While it does have 325 million household subscribers already, YouTube’s 2.5 billion monthly active users show how many more eyeballs there are to win over.

Beyond their potential to attract new subscribers, the podcasting platform offers Netflix an avenue to expand its budding advertising business. That segment generated $1.5 billion in revenue in 2025. There are also opportunities in sponsorships and licensing deals, as well as in launching and hosting podcasts tied to Netflix’s shows and movies.

On the company’s earnings call in January, Co-CEO Ted Sarandos noted that the company’s podcast endeavors are still in a very early stage, but said that he was “super pleased by the early results.”

Over the next year, Netflix’s stock price may take further hits as investors continue to worry about the $82 billion price that the streaming giant may pay to acquire the Warner Bros. businesses from Warner Bros Discovery. Netflix is also pausing its share buyback program to free up more capital to fund that purchase.

It has a long way to go before it will be generating meaningful revenue or earnings from its experience offerings, and maximizing the opportunities that video podcasting offers will also take time.

The good news for investors who take the long view is that the company’s expansions into experiences and podcasting show how it is continuing to innovate and adapt. That bodes well for its bottom line over the long term, and that’s before one even considers the potential benefits it could reap from acquiring Warner Bros., or the revenue possibilities from Netflix’s budding gaming division.

Netflix could create a new round of millionaires among those who invest in 2026, but just as was the case for those who bought in around its IPO, it will require conviction to hold steady during the volatility they’ll face along the way.

Before you buy stock in Netflix, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Netflix wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $429,385!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,165,045!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 913% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 196% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of February 12, 2026.

Jack Delaney has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Netflix, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Could Netflix Stock Help You Become a Millionaire? was originally published by The Motley Fool