SmartHouse can also reveal that tens of thousands of Australians have now registered their interest in signing up for Netflix when it launches in Australia.
Overnight the content streaming Company who is set to launch in Australia on March 31 with a $10 a month all you can feed on service said that they have added 4.33 million streaming subscribers globally in the fourth quarter.
The Company had tipped 4 million new subscribers.
Shortly after the announcement shares in Netflix rose 12%.
The streaming-video has bet big on a rapid international expansion with the Australian launch tipped by analysts to add an additional million to Netflix subscribers over the next three years.
In a letter to shareholders Tuesday, Netflix said its international progress has been so strong that it expects to complete its expansion, while staying profitable, over the next two years, earlier than it had expected. When done, Netflix expects to be operating in 200 countries, up from 50 countries now.
Netflix, however, said its international expansion will continue weighing on its profits. The company expects lower full-year operating income for 2015 than last year.
The Wall Street Journal said that Netflix’s costs have been growing as it seeks to become a global service. In September, Netflix launched in six additional European countries, including France and Germany. Its international loss widened to $79 million from $57 million a year earlier, narrower than its expected loss of $95 million.
The company said it expects to launch in Australia and New Zealand in March as scheduled in March. Netflix management said it is still exploring its options for how to enter China, the world’s biggest market, and will aim to start a small service there based on its original and globally-licensed shows.
Netflix said that they will continue to invest original content including shows produced in Australia.
The company said “Marco Polo” which is a new show set to be aired in Australia in March has “struck a chord across all Netflix territories” and announced plans for a second season to stream in 2016.
Netflix said its originals were among its “most efficient” content, costing less money relative to their viewership than shows licensed from major studios.
The company has 39.1 million subscribers in the U.S. and 18.3 million international subscribers.
In its international business, Netflix added 2.43 million subscribers, above its expectations for 2.15 million and the 1.74 million international subscribers added a year earlier.
Netflix also said it would start streaming the controversial comedy “The Interview” starting Jan. 24, 30 days after it made its debut in theatres and on video-on-demand services. The movie, about assassinating North Korea’s leader, is believed to have spurred the devastating hacker attack that crippled Sony Pictures late last year. Netflix’s move to stream the movie fits with its strategy aimed at collapsing the amount of time between a movie’s release in theatres and its availability online.
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Overall, Netflix reported a fourth-quarter profit of $83.4 million, or $1.35 a share, up from $48.4 million, or 79 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, per-share earnings were 72 cents a share in the latest quarter; the company said in October that it expected 44 cents a share.
Revenue increased 26% to $1.48 billion, slightly below the estimate of $1.49 billion by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
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