Netflix is to take advantage of increasing appetite for its product globally by shifting part of its marketing budget to its international business.
Announcing its first quarter results the streaming service said subscriber numbers now totalled 40 million members in the United States and a further 20 million internationally.
4.9 million new members were added in Q1, both US and international numbers were ahead of company expectations, adding 2.3 million and 2.6 million members respectively. No breakdown was given as to how particular markets are performing, though in an investor call, Netflix described last year’s launches in France and Germany as “acceptable”.
Chief Financial Officer David Wells said the move would also assist Netflix in how it accounts for content costs by geography. “By going faster internationally and putting that allocation more towards international it’s going to provide some relief on global originals and the global projects that we do have that are allocated in the US.”
Promotion is increasingly relating to original content, the popular House of Cards, and other original shows such as Orange is the new Black.
Streaming revenues stood at $1,400 million, up from $1,305 million in the previous quarter. International streaming revenues of $415 million were hit by currency conversions.
There are also plans to improve the current TV UI in the second half of 2015. The enhancement will bring video playback forward into the browse experience. From 2016 Netflix will move from using HTTP to using Secure HTTP (HTTPS) while browsing and viewing content on the service.
