Video-streaming company Netflix said its customer numbers surged more than expected last quarter, as it looks to target more affluent international customers.
The online video company on Tuesday said it had 74.8 million subscribers at the end of December and forecast 6.1 million more through March, fuelled by its expansion in January into virtually every country except China, where it is exploring ways to launch its service.
Though rival Amazon does not divulge the exact number of Prime subscribers, it said “there are tens of millions of members.” According to CNET, there are around 47 million US accounts, putting it in close rivalry with Netflix.
The projection is more bullish than the 4.94 million average estimate of analysts surveyed by FactSet StreetAccount.
However, it said it missed its forecast for US subscriber growth.
Earlier this month, the firm said it had expanded to 130 more countries.
Netflix said it was upbeat about the number of subscribers it expected to grow in the current quarter – forecasting growth of 6.10 million, up from 4.88 million the year earlier.
Netflix said its global expansion plans would start by “primarily targeting outward‐looking, affluent consumers with international credit cards and smartphones.”
However, the streaming service, which gained global recognition for its programmes like House of Cards and Fargo, said it was still trying to expand into China.
Strategy Analytics provided more contextual data:
• Netflix leads the streaming video on demand market in both the US and UK. It’s attracted 77% of US SVOD users and 65% in the UK.
• Strategy Analytics projects 56.1 million US households and 6.8 million UK households subscribed to at least one SVOD service by the end of 2015.
• The UK has the highest SVOD penetration in Europe – about 1/4 of broadband households subscribe to at least one service.
• About 40% of US SVOD users subscribe to more than one service. For the 28% of US SVOD users who subscribe to two SVOD services, the most popular combo is Netflix and Amazon.
• 9% percent of surveyed US Netflix users and 14% of UK users use a subscription paid for by someone outside of their household. Account sharing is most prevalent in France, with 25% of Netflix users using a subscription that belongs to someone outside their household.
