LOS GATOS, CA – Approximately 1.2 million Canadians have signed up for Netflix, the U.S. based streaming service reported.
In a note to shareholders announcing its fourth quarter financial results, CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells said in its 5th quarter since launching international operations, Netflix has topped 1.9 million international streaming members (international figures include Canada, Latin America, the U.K. and Ireland).
New shows and movies added to its Canadian library both drove increased hours viewed per member and member acquisition during the quarter, the note continued.
“The market opportunity in Canada is exciting enough that we continue to invest in the content library, meaning that we’ll run at roughly break even for two quarters, and we expect to return to a positive contribution profit starting in Q3 of this year, two years after our initial launch”, it reads. “Our plan after that is to grow our contribution margin as we continue to grow our membership.”
It’s first original series, Lilyhammer, is set to debut on February 6 in the U.S., Canada and Latin America, and all eight first season episodes will be available at once. The company said that more original series are planned for 2012 and 2013, including House of Cards (Q4 2012), and an exclusive and original fourth season of Arrested Development (2013).
For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011, international revenue of $29 million was in-line with expectations, while contribution loss of $60 million was slightly better due to lower content expenses.
Looking ahead, Netflix said that it expects that Q1 2012 international subscriptions to range between 2.5 to 3.1 million.
