Netflix ‘to reach 100 million subs by 2018’

Netflix will pass the 100 million subscriber mark in 2018, with the UK due to be the SVOD service’s number one European market that year with 7.1 million subscribers, according to IHS.

The research firm predicts that between now and 2019, Netflix subscriptions will grow by 22%, with ten million new subscribers to be added in the US, ten million in western Europe and the rest coming from its other international markets.

“International subscribers are key for Netflix,” said Ted Hall, research director at IHS Technology. “As Netflix invests more in international content, we expect to see huge growth in Western Europe over the next three years, with 10 million new subscribers to be added to its already burgeoning international base.“

“Excluding spend on sports, in 2013 and 2014, Netflix outspent almost everyone on original and acquired content. In 2014, Netflix’s content spend was about double that of ITV and Amazon,” he added.

In its third quarter earnings announcement, Netflix said that its global membership figure grew by 3.62 million to 69.17 million members and that it expects to end the year with 74 million members.

In the US it had 43.18 million streaming subscribers and internationally it had 25.99 million members – though Netflix does not break down figures by international market.

However, TBI stablemate analyst Ovum has predicted Netflix will end the year with 71.1 million total members.

“The traditional linear channel will be around for a long time to come, but it will become increasingly marginalised by a plethora of online services, from catch-up TV to TV Everywhere, pay TV channels’ streaming offerings and YouTube multi-channel networks,” said Hall.