Netflix: Price increase had no negative impact on growth

In the notes to the quarterly figures, Netflix states that the price increase that was implemented in Europe in August has not had a negative impact on subscriber growth. There are now more than 69 million members worldwide.

Netflix announced this in a letter to its shareholders. In the third quarter of 2015, Netflix gained 3.6 million members, mostly from outside the US. Netflix now has a total of 69.2 million members. That includes members who are still in their first free month, but paying 66 million users for the service.

In August, Netflix in Europe increased the price of the standard subscription by one euro. According to the service, this has had no negative impact on the growth of the service. Last week, Netflix also announced a price increase in the US and various other countries, where the price of the standard package increases by one dollar.

Although Netflix made a profit of $29.4 million in the third quarter, that is less than the profit in the same quarter last year, which was $59 million. Growth in the US was disappointing, Netflix had counted on 1.2 million new customers but gained 880,000 new subscribers. Internationally, 300,000 more members joined than expected. Most of the membership is still American. There are now about 26 million international Netflix subscribers, compared to 43 million members from the US.

Netflix expects to have 74 million members by the end of this year. The service has just been launched in Japan and is coming soon to Spain, Italy and Portugal. Netflix plans to be available worldwide by the end of 2016. Earlier, the company announced plans to come to Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore early next year.