Locally produced, globally distributed content is the future of Netflix, the company’s co-founder and CEO told CNBC on Wednesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Pay-TV Operators (APOS) summit in Bali, Reed Hastings attributed the streaming website’s “amazing Q1” to strong international growth.
Last week, Netflix reported first-quarter results that were double analyst expectations. The company posted diluted earnings per share of 6 cents, compared to 5 cents per share in the year-earlier period. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.96 billion (S$2.65 billion), against the comparable year-ago figure of $1.57 billion.
The firm said it gained a net 6.74 million memberships: 2.23 million in the US and 4.51 million internationally. Wall Street had expected on average that Netflix would announce a 4.36 million net gain in memberships internationally and 1.77 million net adds in the US, according to data from StreetAccount.
But Netflix earns less per international subscriber than from its American customer. To resolve that issue, Hastings is heavily investing in international content, citing examples such as French television series Marseilles, that will be released to all markets simultaneously.
“We’re just adding so much content…we hope to be producing content all around the world. That’s the future of Netflix: locally produced, global distribution.”
