LOS GATOS, CA – Netflix marked the 10th anniversary of its streaming launch with the largest quarter of net additions in its history.
In a note to shareholders that included the company’s financial results, Netflix said that it added 7.05 million subscribers in its fourth quarter, including 1.93 million in the U.S. and 5.12 million internationally, ahead of its internal forecasts. Netflix now boasts 93.8 million subscribers worldwide, with more than 47% of its total subscribers now outside of the U.S.
The streamer credited the on-going popularity of its original programming, singling out global hits like Marvel’s Luke Cage, Golden Globe-nominated The Crown, season three of Black Mirror and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life as examples of high quality content that travels well across borders.
“We continue to invest in local programming to complement our content offering and as a means to introduce new members to our global library”, continued the note. “We are focusing on local content that travels pan-regionally or across multiple territories, such as Japanese anime and Turkish dramas.”
Netflix added that it was “pleased” with the initial results of its launch of offline viewing earlier this quarter, which allows subscribers to download content to iOS and Android devices, noting that its popularity was “greatest in emerging markets, where the broadband infrastructure is less robust.”
Netflix’s global streaming revenue increased 41% year-over-year to $2.4 billion, while net income grew to $67 million from $43 reported for the same period a year earlier.
“Since our global expansion is proceeding well, we intend to grow our global operating margin for many years ahead”, the shareholder note added. “We’ve been around a 4% annual operating margin for the past two years, and we are targeting about 7% for the full year 2017 based on current F/X rates. From here, we will seek to steadily increase revenue and operating margin as we balance growth and profitability. We are in no rush to push margins up too quickly, as we want to ensure we are investing aggressively enough to continue to lead internet TV around the world.”
