Internet – Netflix chokes with price increase user growth from – Süddeutsche.de

Direct from the dpa news channel

Los Gatos (dpa) – The online video service Netflix has clearly missed its own forecasts for user growth last quarter

In the last three months 1.7 million users were added, such as Netflix announced after US market close on Monday. The company itself had found an increase of 2.5 million in prospect.

founder and CEO Reed Hastings made for, among other things, a price increase in charge. “Whatever costs something that people do not like, when it is more expensive,” he said in a video conference call with analysts. Netflix must by phase but through. At the end of the higher prices would mean more sales.

During the quarter 500 000. Customers should look for expectations of the service added in the US and 2 million worldwide. In its home market Netflix won but just 160 000 users.

International it is typical that only unload a pent-up demand when starting in a new market and growth then abbremse, Hastings said. “We are growing, but not as fast as we would like or have succeeded in the past,” Netflix said in the quarterly letter to shareholders. The stock fell after trading around 15 percent. Investors were also disappointed by the view.

Netflix now has 83.2m customers worldwide, including over 47.1 million in the domestic US market. The service was launched in around 130 other countries earlier this year, making it now available almost all over the world, except for China and countries like North Korea. The global reach also arouses appropriate expectations for the growth of the number of users.

Sales at the video service on-year by 28 percent to 2.1 billion dollars (1.9 billion euros) increase. When profits were up by 55 percent to 40.75 million US dollars.

The influx of new users is crucial to ensure that a large bet of Hastings rises. Netflix infected each year billions of dollars in content, including in series and films from its own production. The money has to come from the subscription fees of the members. Hastings was confident for the future: He do not see why every household should not be in the US Netflix customer in 10 to 20 years

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