Netflix’s user base climbs to 86m, revenue tops $2bn

Netflix is growing. Quickly. According to the company’s latest earning report, its revenue has topped the US$2-billion mark for the first time.

That’s a growth of 36% from Q3 2015 to Q3 2016. A vast clump of revenue was made beyond US borders.

Netflix Q3 2016: The key numbers

• US$2.2-billion global streaming revenue
• US$880-million international streaming revenue
• 86-million global subscribers
• 3.6-million subscribers added

“Global streaming revenue totaled $2.2-billion, of which 40% was generated abroad. Operating income amounted to $106-million (compared with our $64-million estimate) while net income was $52-million (vs. forecast of $22-million),” the company reveals on its investor notice.

The service globally is also growing, with 3.2-million members added in the third quarter alone, and just 400 000 in the US. Both numbers, however, beat expectations.

Netflix’s global subscriber base is now 86-million, with 5.2-million expected to be added in the next quarter

“For the first nine months of 2016, we’ve added 12 million global members, the same as in the first nine months of 2015,” the company added.

As for its content strategy, Netflix isn’t showing signs of slowing down.

“We are now in the fourth year of our original content strategy and are pleased with our progress. In 2017, we intend to release over 1000 hours of premium original programming, up from over 600 hours this year,” the company explains.

New content expected in 2017

Netflix also has plenty of praise for some of these shows, including The Get Down and Marvel’s Luke Cage alongside critically acclaimed Narcos and Stranger Things. It revealed that two more shows can be expected in 2017, namely The Defenders (which is effectively a mini-Marvel character reunion), and another Marvel series, Iron Fist.

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But the company isn’t harbouring unrealistic expectations.

It claims that infiltrating the Chinese market remains a massive issue, and has resorted to licensing content to the country, “rather than operate our own service in China in the near term”. Beyond that, Netflix also noted that international growth will likely slow a tad in 2017.

“We will face a tough international net adds comparison in Q1’17 because of the initial membership surge in Q1’16 tied to the launch of 130 additional territories,” the company adds.

Netflix has forecast subscriber growth in Q4 2016 at 5.2-million globally, with 1.2-million originating from the States.

Read the full report in PDF form here.