Netflix: 6.7 million new customers worldwide in first quarter

At the presentation of the quarterly figures, Netflix reported that the company has gained 6.7 million new customers worldwide. This brings the total number of subscribers to 81.5 million, of which almost 47 million come from the US.

Growth in the last quarter was 5.6 million members, making the current figure a record for Netflix. In the US, 2.2 million new customers were added, with a further 4.5 million in the rest of the world. This addition has ensured that Netflix has achieved a turnover of 1.81 billion dollars, or 1.59 billion euros.

According to CEO Reed Hastings, the record growth in new subscribers is partly due to the expansion that Netflix implemented in January. Then 130 new countries were added, where the streaming service is available. Hastings expects that with more localization, the number of customers in the new regions will increase. Nevertheless, the forecast for the coming quarter is somewhat more cautious.

Netflix expects a growth of 3.5 million new members, of which 2 million are outside the US. Hastings explains that revenues from the US and the rest of the world are almost parallel. Therefore, the company would further focus on developing its own content, which it can broadcast around the world. For example, the French-language series ‘Marseille’ or the Spanish-language series ‘Narcos’.

Nor would there have been much notice of the VPN blockade that Netflix introduced in January, the CEO explained. This would concern ‘a small but noisy minority’.