Outside the US, Netflix is booming

Netflix signed up 5.2 mn subscribers in the second quarter, 2 mn more than analysts had forecast

Netflix has begun to reshape the TV business overseas just as it has at home.

The streaming-video provider scored a record second quarter, surpassing forecasts for subscriber growth and boosting its international audience past the domestic total for the first time. 

Netflix’s blend of TV shows, movies and stand-up comedy has started to catch on in some of the biggest countries in the world, from Brazil to the UK. The company will be in at least 20 per cent of broadband households in five of its largest markets outside the US by the end of the year, according to Instinet.

“All throughout the West, in Latin America, North America and Europe, we’re doing very well,” Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said on a webcast. “We just need to continue to do what we’re doing.”

The streaming-video provider signed up 5.2 million subscribers in the second quarter, 2 million more than analysts had forecast. The company said 4.14 million of those new viewers came from outside the US, bringing the international total to more than 52 million. International operations will be profitable for the first time this year, Netflix said.

The company will spend more than $6 billion on programming in 2017 to offer that global audience a little bit of everything. Having already surpassed 50 million customers in the US, Netflix has fixated on adding customers abroad, especially in Latin America and Europe. The company recently opened a customer-service centre in Amsterdam that will employ at least 400 people by next year is booming.