Yesterday Netflix announced their Q4 2015 earnings, which revealed the streaming service had hit 75 million subscribers worldwide, on $1.82 billion of revenue.
The company added a record 5.59 million new subscribers in the fourth quarter, with 1.56 million from the U.S and Canada, and 4.04 million internationally.
Netflix has plans to spend $6 billion on content in 2016 and has plans to offer 600 hours of original programming through 60 new shows, which has traditional media companies like Rogers and Bell worried.
During the company’s Q4 2015 earnings call, CEO Netflix Reed Hastings clarified the impact of their recent addition of iOS in-app purchases, when asked by Peter Kafka from Re/code asked if there was “any impact” of the feature.
Hastings explained the feature is “a really nice positive,” but not “transformational”. Where it comes in handy is in new markets, where Netflix is not well-known and “less trusted”.
How? The CEO added native in-app purchases for Netflix subscriptions on iOS adds “comfort for customers in terms of using an Apple payment mechanism, versus entering their International credit card information is helpful.”
Netflix is a Long Term Approach to Enter China—like the iPhone
When asked about whether a joint venture is required to enter China, Hastings replied “We have a very long term look, this could be a many years’ discussion,” and compared their patience to Apple’s iPhone, which took years to enter the country.
Hastings explained the “clearest example is really the iPhone, which took Apple many years to get approval for that, and now it’s a really large business for Apple.”
Netflix recently announced expansion in 130 more countries, which also resulted in their upcoming plan to “respect and enforce” worldwide licensing by blocking proxy users accessing out of market content via VPNs.
