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Netflix growth exceeds expectations

Netflix now has 124m subscribers internationally, with global customers now comprising 50% of revenue.

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Netflix now has 124m subscribers internationally, with global customers now comprising 50 percent of the company’s revenue.

The company adding another 5.46m global users and added 1.96 million US users in the last quarter, following big releases like The Crown and Bright, with a revenue of $3.7 billion for the three months ended March 31.

Higher US subscription prices for Netflix’s streaming service, combined with the growing customer base, gave a huge boost for revenue — Netflix said its 43% year-over-year jump in streaming revenue was the best in its history. Netflix has been one of the fastest-growing stocks on Wall Street so far this year as the company blew past expectations for US and international growth.

Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos has said it will spend up to $8 billion on content this year, totalling $10 million including marketing.

Netflix will have 700 original shows and movies on the service this year, including 80 series specific to local, non-English-speaking markets. A new Spanish-language heist thriller called La Casa de Papel, or Money Heist in English, became the most watched non-English series on Netflix ever, executives said.

Netflix is also continuing its aggressive hunt for top-notch talent, attracting everyone from star Hollywood creators to publicists. The streaming service poached producer Ryan Murphy from 21st Century FOX with a five-year, $300 million production agreement, in addition to wooing Shonda Rhimes away from ABC.

The company’s debt obligations continued to increase during the first quarter, with long-term debt pushing from $6.5 billion to $6.55 billion. Total liabilities moved from $15.4 billion to $16 billion, compared with $2.6 billion in cash on hand. Netflix doesn’t seem concerned, though, calling its debt “quite modest as a percentage of our enterprise value.”

In Australia Netflix dominates the SVOD landscape but has not released local numbers, estimated at around 7.6m subscribers.

Source: The Wrap, Market Watch, Wall Street Journal

3 Responses

  1. There were some usage figures for Netflix subscribers published this week. The majority of content streamed on Netflix is still old seasons of TV shows and movies. Those people are subscribing instead of watching FTA, Basic cable and renting or buying DVDs. The are also subscribers who watch mostly Netflix’s own premium TV shows instead of, or as well as, subscribing to HBO, Showtime etc.

  2. Recently signed up for Netflix and stan and for the first time since we got Foxtel over a decade ago we will be downgrading our package really enjoying stan and Netflix

  3. Perhaps Netflix’s rise coincides with increased sales of UHD TV’s and devices, products that usually have a prominent Netflix button on their new remotes as well, Netflix were first saturation marketing their corporate imagery and are benefiting now. Netflix do need to maintain a product standard if they wish to keep increasing their viewership and no doubt later their prices as well, worldwide business restructuring plus Netflix’s big budget productions could stretch things a bit far financially especially when Disney and other competitors get serious in the streaming market place, Netflix currently dominate in the advertising promotion game but they will need to be cashed up to maintain their leadership in the future.

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