Back in 2002, Netflix (NFLX 0.73%) 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.
What could boost the Netflix stock price for the long haul?
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.
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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."
NASDAQ: NFLX
Key Data Points
Does Netflix still have millionaire-maker potential?
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.
