MOBILE SUBSCRIPTION SURPASSES NETFLIX’S INITIAL EXPECTATIONS

Netflix is an American media-service provider and production company headquartered in Los Gatos, California, founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California. The company’s primary business is its subscription-based streaming service which offers online streaming of a library of films and television programmes. Netflix had over 148 million paid subscriptions worldwide. Netflix is a member of Motion Picture Association (MPA).

Presently it is found that mobile and tablet only subscription plan which is launched exclusively has performed well and exceeded the initial expectations.

The Chief Product Officer Gregory K Peters was enraptured and claimed that the mobile subscription plans are performing better than tested. The streaming giant is also testing the multi-month subscription plans which are bundles for three months-six months and nine months. Currently the price packs are classified into three:

Rs. 499/month (one device)

Rs. 649/month (two devices)

Rs. 799/month (four devices)

India has emerged into one of the key markets for Netflix. In the last quarter September 30 APAC (Asian Pacific) region which includes India, recorded highest growth in terms of revenue and memberships. Another finding was that Netflix had 14.48 million subscribers in APAC in September end when compared to 9.46 million subscribers in the same period last year.

APAC region comprises of Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. The user base in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) grew to 47.4 million subscribers from 33.8 million subscribers a year ago. In US and Canada Netflix had 67.1 million users. Netflix is available worldwide except in mainland China (due to local restrictions), Syria, North Korea and Crimea (due to US sanctions)

The firm reported that Netflix crossed $1 billion revenue in Asia Pacific in the first nine months of 2019. The firm also claimed that the streaming firm has broken down region wise user numbers for first time. Revenues at the India unit grew over 700 percent in FY19 to Rs. 467 crore.  It managed to post meagre profits to the tune of Rs. 5 crore according to the filings of Netflix India. Content acquisition costs are not included and they are not considered as best performance indicator.

Revenue earned per user in APAC is lesser than it is in other markets. At $9.31 per subscriber, Average Revenue per User (ARPU) in Asia Pacific is less than the $10.26 per user in the EMEA and $12.36 in the United States.