Netflix hits five million Latin America customers

Netflix hit five million Latin American customers in the fourth quarter of last quarter, from a total of 18.3 international streaming members, the firm has revealed. 

Speaking on Netflix’s Q4 earnings call, chief financial officer David Wells said that the firm has seen steady growth in the market, but said with 65 million addressable homes in Latin America there is still “a lot of room for growth.”

“What we said all along in terms of Latin America was [it is] a challenging market. We’ve had payments issues and e-commerce trust issues that we’ve wrestled with and improved over the last three to 3.5 years, but it’s been growing all along,” said Wells, adding that Netflix was “very pleased” with its performance there.

The revelation comes despite Netflix generally refusing to break down subscriber numbers by market. The firm typically only releases international and US figures, with streaming members in the US coming to 39.1 million in Q4.

Netflix said in a letter to investors this week that it plans complete its global expansion over the next two years, outlining plans to up its footprint from 50 to 200 countries.

Discussing the firm’s “incremental confidence in international,” Wells said that Netflix’s original programming continues to be “highly engaged across markets outside the US” – giving the firm confidence that the shows it produces will be enjoyed across “a bigger and bigger set of international markets.”

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings added that the firm has been pushing its originals efforts in order to get global rights to content and not have to licence market by market.