Netflix has finally revealed just how many Canadian subscribers are on the platform and how much revenue the company has earned from the Canadian market.
The Los Gatos, California-based company released exact revenue and subscriber numbers for the first time in seven years. As reported by Bloomberg, Netflix released its filings through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which showed that the company amassed 6.5 million Canadian subscribers and earned $780 million CAD by the end of the third quarter in 2019. For comparison’s sake, Netflix earned $835 million CAD in 2018 and $668 million CAD in 2017. The stats show that the total average of monthly North American users is currently $16.25 CAD, as of the 2019 earnings.
These figures could add fuel to the debate over Netflix not paying domestic revenue taxes. A hot button issue in recent years was whether or not provincial governments would implement a tax on the company. In January of this year, Saskatchewan joined Quebec in charging a provincial sales tax on Netflix subscribers. In 2017 Netflix committed to spending $500 million CAD over five years on television and film production in Canada, which as Bloomberg has pointed out, has already been surpassed.
It’s worth pointing out that the subscriber increase from 2018 September 30th, 2019 was only 200,000. Though not a number to sneeze at, Canadians now have access to a larger array of streaming platforms including Crave, Amazon Prime, and recently, Disney+, which could have affected the rise in subscribers.
Netflix has additionally stated its plans to release quarterly revenue earnings starting in January, closing the book in 2019. In future reports, markets will be divided into four regions: Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Europe, and the U.S. and Canada.
