Support NeoGAF

[1st Course]

Q4 earnings report

http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...1/Q4_15_Letter_to_Shareholders_-_COMBINED.pdf

On January 1st, just a few hours after the quarter closed, we crossed 75 million members. Our quarter‐end 74.76 million members put us at over 17 million net additions for the year, showing how much the world is embracing Internet TV. We think we’ll grow by over 6 million members in Q1 given our expansion of Netflix to virtually everywhere but China. We bring great stories from all over theworld to people all over the world. Our summary results and Q1 forecast are below.

In the fourth quarter, we added a record 5.59 million members as our big shows such as Narcos and Marvel’s Jessica Jones helped us grow membership to 74.76 million. This 5.59 million compares to a forecast of 5.15 million and to prior year net additions of 4.33 million. For Q1, we are forecasting 6.10 million net additions vs. prior year of 4.88 million. On earnings, we stayed profitable in Q4 despite foreign exchange headwinds, and delivered operating income of $60m and net income of $43m. We expect similar modest operating income results for Q1, assuming current foreign exchange, as we invest in our international expansion. As a reminder, the guidance we provide is our actual internal forecast at the time we report, and we strive for accuracy in our guidance.

In early January at CES, we announced the availability of Netflix everywhere in the world except China. Pricing is comparable to our existing plans and we have added support for Korean, Arabic, and Simplified & Traditional Chinese languages. Our move into 130 additional countries broadens our addressable market by 190 million broadband homes, on top of the 360 million we counted at the end of 2015 . While the opportunity is large, our growth in these new markets will unfold over many years as we improve our service. We are starting by primarily targeting outward‐looking, affluent consumers with international credit cards and smartphones. As with every market we’ve launched, our approach is to listen, learn and improve rapidly, adding more content, additional languages and a better Netflix experience over time. Our global availability sets us up for continued growth for many years and we continue to expect material global profits beginning in 2017.

In 2016, we plan to launch over 600 hours of original programming, up from about 450 hours in 2015. Beyond the sheer volume of content, the breadth of our original programming will continue to expand with current plans for new seasons of 30 or so original series (including The Crown and The Get Down), eight original feature films, 35 new seasons of original series for kids, a dozen documentaries, and nine stand up comedy specials.

 

[SalvaPot]

The world is turning red.

 

[Concrete Charlie]

Netflix taking no prisoners.

 

[Krauser Kat]

that is a lot of monthly income...

 

[adj_noun]

Man, I remember when their streaming started, watching old Addams Family episodes and thinking "this is kinda neat".

Now they're a juggernaut.

 

[Theandrin]

that is a lot of monthly income...

That was my first thought.

I resubbed a couple of months back after a long break from when they first started moving towards streaming. Originally I didn't think it was worth the money, now I feel I am getting every dollar out of their streaming service.

 

[RumblingRosco]

Yeah they seem to be doing well.

 

[Arc]

Remember when they separated the DVD service and everyone declared them dead?

 

[iNvid02]

2015 was damn good for their original content, went from only watching house of cards to getting on board with daredevil, master of none, jessica jones, marco polo, sense8 and narcos (shit how did i forgot narcos)

they got black mirror upcoming as well who knows what else, keep doing your thang

 

[tycoonheart]

And apparently their profits are still declining.

 

[Anth0ny]

that is a lot of money per month.

 

[stuminus3]

Funny the difference a couple of years makes. There was supposed to be no future in this. I can't imagine life without Netflix now.

 

[keffri]

That's crazy.

 

[internetwolf]

they deserve every penny

 

[Eidan]

I signed up back in 2011, and have yet to ever regret it. I can't go back to regular TV.

 

[adj_noun]

Remember when they separated the DVD service and everyone declared them dead?

I mainly remember that stoner kid with the same twitter handle as their proposed spinoff company getting their five minutes.

 

[entremet]

Hey, guys!

Remember me:

What a ride it's been. One of the best and forward thinking pivots in business history.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

I mean
The fact I can just sit down and load up a show in HD, like standup comedy or like... A documentatry about fish or ww2 with no prior downloading still blows my mind, as simple as it is.

Being human is probably the best

 

[UrokeJoe]

Started with their DVD service a long time ago and thought they were really onto something. I knew streaming was going to be big for them and ahead of the rental places, but did not see this coming way back then.

 

[1st Course]

And apparently their profits are still declining.

They are kinda like Amazon in that regard, They care more about growth than profits.

 

[Interframe]

Thats 75 million people on a service with nothing to watch (unless your in the US).

 

[Goldenroad]

All I know is I might be cancelling if this VPN blocking thing comes to pass. I haven't experienced too many problems yet, but every once in a while it starts freezing on me on my PS4 and Apple TV, regardless of if I'm in my home region or not. It might be a router issue though, so I'll reserve judgement. I do agree about their original content being top notch though.

 

[teruterubozu]

Their peak before VPN/proxy shutdown?

 

[kiguel182]

Netflix is such a better service than regular TV it isn't even funny.

Hopefully in a couple of years they can deliver good amounts of content to every region so DNS changers are not needed. I believe they'll get there for sure.

 

[Broken Joystick]

Adam Sandler getting fucking payed.

 

[Dragon]

Thats 75 million people on a service with nothing to watch (unless your in the US).

As someone who uses unblock-us this is just completely not true. Norwegian Netflix has a shitload of good movies that we don't get in the States for instance.

 

[dankir]

Lol Blockbuster, more like Stupidbuster AMIRITE?

 

[entremet]

Thats 75 million people on a service with nothing to watch (unless your in the US).

Not a fan of their original content?

 

[Tom Nook]

Well deserved.

Keep bringing original content.

 

[AndrewPL]

And apparently their profits are still declining.

When you're expanding equity and growing markets profit short term isn't going to look great.

 

[injurai]

Hey, guys!

Remember me:

What a ride it's been. One of the best and forward thinking pivots in business history.

They got their name right. It transitioned well to the new business model.

 

[Dr Prob]

Sounds impressive, but just think how much money NBC can charge for a 30 second spot during something like Superstore. We're talking at least $50 a pop.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

Hey, guys!

Remember me:

What a ride it's been. One of the best and forward thinking pivots in business history.

Do they still send those things out? I swear I've seen those things recently sitting on top of a mailbox because the disc was too big to fit in the slot.

 

[Eidan]

Hey, guys!

Remember me:

What a ride it's been. One of the best and forward thinking pivots in business history.

Remember me?

 

[Pastry]

Their peak before VPN/proxy shutdown?

A blip (if even) on the radar.

 

[rjinaz]

I remember when Netflix first started streaming and in forums people were saying things like RIP Netflix, nobody wants that, nah just keep sending me DVDs k thanks, no thanks I want to own my content etc.

Look at them now. I haven't used their mailing service in 5 years but I have been a subscriber the whole time.

 

[Toa TAK]

Meanwhile at Blockbuster:

 

[El Topo]

I'm still baffled that there's no global competitor.

 

[Tom Nook]

Meanwhile at Blockbuster:

The blockbuster I used to go to has become a physical therapy clinic.

 

[chubigans]

The blockbuster I used to go to has become a physical therapy clinic.

In my city one became a gym, the other two are a family dental clinic.

 

[Eidan]

The blockbuster I used to go to has become a physical therapy clinic.

I think mine is a dialysis center.

 

[entremet]

Do they still send those things out? I swear I've seen those things recently sitting on top of a mailbox because the disc was too big to fit in the slot.

They still have DVD/BR rental service, so I assume so. I'm only streaming, so I haven't gotten a disc in ages.

There was a time when streaming and rentals were one fee.

The golden years!

 

[samn]

With original programming it seems like their goal is to be the next HBO.

 

[Fried Food]

one of these days I'm going to buy stock in a new company and sit on it and become rich.

 

[Alphahawk]

I still think users who complain about lack of content aren't searching hard enough. There's almost too much good stuff on the service.

 

[Toa TAK]

The blockbuster I used to go to has become a physical therapy clinic.

Mine is still an empty building.

 

[Despera]

Netflix is now available in Saudi Arabia, so I decided to try it out.

The selection is so small that I think I'll terminate my subscription once the trial period is up. Damn copyright shenanigans.

 

[lastplayed]

Thats 75 million people on a service with nothing to watch (unless your in the US).

I recently signed up (NZ) and there's more than enough to keep me entertained.

 

[Richie]

The blockbuster I used to go to has become a physical therapy clinic.

Mexico's were actually lucrative enough that they didn't close when the main brand died, instead, they rebaptized themselves as "The B Store" and are still at it.

Hell, the Falco amiibo is exclusive to them.

 

[rjinaz]

Meanwhile at Blockbuster:

It's a shame Blockbuster couldn't think of a way to keep competitive. Something like movie deliveries would have been interesting. It's been a while but sometimes I get an urge to want to go to a rental store and look for movies or games to rent. Well not so much anymore because I use UV codes and VUDU for all new releases, but still. The people in charge of the brand failed miserably at staying on top of the trends and the changing market.