Netflix ‘to double’ European subs base

Netflix will double its overall subs base in Europe, with the its leading market in the region, the UK, growing at an even faster rate, according to new research.

As the US-listed streaming service continues its rapid expansion into new territories IHS Technology forecasts Netflix will grow its overall subscriber base from three million in 2013 to 21 million by 2019.

The UK will be the single largest territory in Europe for the SVOD service with a subs base that will grow 250% in the 2013-2019 timeframe.

With a smaller number of overall customers than the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria will, however, register the fastest adoption rates in Europe with a 500% increase in subs through to 2019.

Research house IHS said that Netflix’s stellar forecasted expansion in Europe will mean it is registering growth double that of traditional pay TV in the region, and three times that of the US.

Should Netflix perform in line with IHS’s expectations it will mean 20% of its subs come from within the European Union by 2019, about half the size of its US customer base.

EU subs will total 19.9 million (the remainder of the European total coming from non-EU states) by 2019. In Scandinavia there will be 6.2 million subs.

The projected 21 million European Netflix customers will be part of a forecast global customer number of 96.5 million by 2019.

The SVOD player is spending big on content as it rolls out around the world. IHS noted its content spend outstrips that of the BBC, ITV, HBO, Discovery and Amazon.

It spends more than European pay platform Sky, if the cost of sports rights are taken out of the equation.