Netflix Subscriber Base Hits 100 Million Globally

Netflix reported that its number of subscribers climbed more than expected, topping 100 million worldwide and sending shares in the leading on-demand television service soaring.

Netflix shares leapt more than 10 percent to $178.48 in after-market trades that followed release of earnings figures showing the Silicon Valley-based company added 5.2 million subscribers in the recently ended quarter to raise the total to 103.95 million for its streaming service.

Most of the subscriber growth came from outside the US, where Netflix has invested heavily in establishing itself as a global television service.

"That is what you want to see, subscriber growth," said Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle. "Their international efforts are paying dividends right now."

Netflix ended the quarter with slightly more than half of subscriptions coming from outside the US, a first for the company. International subscribers were 52.03 million, versus 51.92 million in the US.

Profit was up 61 percent to $66 million (roughly Rs. 424 crores), Netflix said. Revenue increased 32 percent to $2.78 billion (roughly Rs. 17,889 crores) from the same quarter last year.

"We underestimated the popularity of our strong slate of content which led to higher-than-expected acquisition across all major territories," Netflix said in a letter released along with the earnings figures.

Netflix told investors that it was determined to balance boldness and financial discipline as it continued to bolster its programming slate.

Netflix and rival Amazon Prime have been pumping money into original shows to win fans and set themselves apart in an increasingly competitive bid for viewers' time.

"The competition for entertainment time is always intense, but the silver lining is that the market is vast and diverse," Netflix said.

More than a billion hours of video is viewed daily at Google-owned YouTube, while Netflix streams a similar amount of video to subscribers over the course of a typical week, according to the company.

Netflix forecast that it would add 3.65 million more subscribers around the world in the current quarter.