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New Post has been published on http://www.therakyatpost.com/life/television-life/2015/04/16/netflix-membership-surges-past-60-million/

Netflix membership surges past 60 million

NETFLIX on Wednesday reported an unprecedented increase in subscribers in the first quarter of this year, pushing the streaming television service’s membership to above 60 million.

Milestones included passing the 40-million members mark within the United States and 20-million internationally, pushing the number of subscriptions to its streaming television service to above 62 million overall, according to quarterly earnings figures.

Netflix’s shares had vaulted 13% in after-hours trade on the news, despite reporting a profit that was dragged down by currency changes.

“Our original series, documentaries and comedy specials are being enthusiastically received and member engagement is at an all-time high,” Netflix said.

“Members streamed 10 billion hours (in the first quarter), more evidence that consumers around the world are embracing the Internet TV revolution.”

Netflix added a record of 4.9 million new members globally during the first three months of this year.

A strong US dollar hurt financial results during the quarter, with foreign exchange “headwinds” offsetting better-than-expected subscriber growth, the California-based company reported.

Netflix’s international streaming business posted a loss of US$65 million (RM240 million) and was expected to face a loss of US$101 million in the current quarter, according to earning figures.

Netflix reported an overall profit of US$24 million in the quarter as compared with US$53 million in the same period a year earlier.

Netflix remained confident in its strategy of building its reputation and ranks of subscribers with original content such as House of Cards  and Orange is the New Black.

The company said it is not worried about competition from the freshly launched HBO Now.

“Netflix and HBO are not substitutes for one another given differing content,” Netflix said.

“We think both will continue to be successful in the marketplace.”