NetFlix Subscriber Count Reaches 104 Million Worldwide

NetFlix finally reached the 100 million subscriber mark this quarter following a 5.2 million surge from the worldwide market. By March 2017, NetFlix’ subscriber count sat at 98 million, which is 5 million more than three months before that.

Next Target: HBO Subscriber Count

As popular as NetFlix is, it is still several million subscribers away from HBO. Despite not having a ubiquitous streaming platform online like NetFlix, HBO has 134 million subscribers worldwide. HBO also has exclusive shows such as Game of Thrones which buoy the company into growth. NetFlix is targeting the same reach and has aggressively funded their own originals to compete.

In addition to their original programming, NetFlix also can collect significantly more information from their viewers unlike HBO, which gives them an edge with tailoring shows to what their customers want.

According to Netflix, the next 100 million will be much easier to grow than the first 100 million. They are also betting on that coming from a large international subscriber base.

Large International Subscriber Base

Since NetFlix is a streaming platform, it has to compete with a lot of online only streaming services. This includes YouTube and other free video services. However, this has not hindered the company’s growth which remains at a steady pace. Company profits for example is up 60% from last year, despite spending a lot on acquisitions and more original programming. NetFlix has a $6 billion budget for content in 2017 which is staggering for any platform.

It appears to be paying off however, and the company is projected to earn half of that back in just a quarter. Much of the growth this year is attributed to markets outside of the US, so NetFlix is also spending on original shows that cater to an International audience. The most recent product from this effort is Bong Joon-Ho’s science fiction drama Okja which received several nominations from Cannes this year.