Netflix tops 60 million members, with 5 million added in 2015


by |


Share:


Netflix button



Netflix has announced it has surpassed 60 million customers around the world, underscoring its dominance of the video streaming landscape.


The company added a whopping 4.9 million new subscribers in the first three months of 2015, to bring its total global user base to 62.3 million.


The firm had hoped to add 4.1 million during the period, but surpassed expectations with 2.3 million new members in the U.S. and a further 2.6 million newcomers internationally.


Netflix now has over 40 million subscribers in its U.S. homeland with more than 20 million more spread out across the 50+ countries where the on demand is now available.


While subscriber numbers and revenues are are way up again, the cost of that rapid international expansion has been a fall in profits compared with the same period in 2014.


Netflix made $53 million net on $1.27 billion income this time last year. In 2015, the figure is $23 million profit on $1.57 billion revenue.


The company says its ever-improving original content line-up, which this year has included already new seasons from House of Cards, Trailer Park Boys, Daredevil, Bloodline and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt are keeping the U.S. market alive, despite fears of saturation.


In an letter to shareholders, CEO Reed Hastings wrote: ”We think strong U.S. growth benefited from our ever-improving content, including the launch of the third season of ‘House of Cards’ and new shows ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ and ‘Bloodline’.”


Read more: Netflix vs Amazon Prime Instant Video


Things are looking pretty good for Netflix right now, but it’ll be interesting to see how these numbers stack up with the next earnings report, due this summer.


The company now faces competition from the new HBO Now service, which represents the first time the U.S. broadcast giant has offered a streaming only platform to directly compete with Netflix.