There’s been a lot of talk over the last few months about Netflix and how popular they are compared to cable networks or the Big Three, but one thing is now certain: whatever else people might be watching, they are absolutely watching Netflix.
In a letter to Netflix investors, as reported by Variety, CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells revealed that, right after the end of the company’s fourth quarter, Netflix had a total subscriber base of over 75 million members. The letter also noted that they netted an over an additional 17 million members for the year.
While the service added 1.56 million US subscribers for the quarter, their international numbers are what really helped pushed Netflix over the top. Their new international subscribers for the fourth quarter added over 4 million to their numbers for that quarter. Netflix revealed earlier this month that they had expanded to an additional 130 countries, bringing the total countries to 190, which is pretty much every nation in the world except China.
Undoubtedly, one of the things drawing people worldwide to the streaming subscription service is the increase in original programming. The report also said that Netflix streamed over 42 billion hours of content, as opposed to the 29 billion hours streamed in 2014. Shows like Orange is the New Black, Daredevil, Grace and Frankie and House of Cards will soon be joined by new additions like The Crown, The Get Down and The Ranch. There will be new seasons of old shows as well, with a total of 30 new seasons of television. The network will also launch 35 new seasons of original children’s shows, a dozen documentaries and nine comedy specials. All in all, this leads to 600 hours of original programming, which is up 33 percent from 2015.
Netflix has been at the forefront of the streaming revolution for years now, and is also a pioneer in fostering their own original content, as opposed to simply replaying content from other providers. Their shows have gotten love from audiences worldwide, as well as critics, and lead to other streamers like Hulu and Amazon bringing their own original content to the screen. The overall effect, of course, being that everyone now has a lot more choices when they sit down in front of the television for a long night of binge watching.
Well, those are some impressive numbers reported by Netflix, that’s for sure. And, while there’s no telling exactly what 2016 will continue to bring for the service, it doesn’t look like the service’s progression toward total streaming dominance is going to slow anytime soon. Since they now have a whopping 190 countries in which to gain subscribers, it’s probably a sure bet that there will be more blockbuster numbers at this time next year.
