The total membership of Netflix customers surged past 117 million last year, a drastic rise which the company believes to have achieved due to their original programming. The Internet streaming giant added up more than 8.3 million customers in the last quarter of 2017, and interestingly, 6.3 million of them were from outside the United States.
The result helped Netflix to reach a market capitalization of $100 billion for the first time. According to latest statistics, Netflix has signed more than half of all the US broadband customers and is aiming to expand the market in all the 190 countries by spending billions on original programming. The numbers also show the dominance of Netflix over its on-demand rivals Amazon and Hulu.
The success of Netflix shows 'Stranger Things' and 'The Crown' has played a crucial role in the company's mammoth success in the fourth quarter of 2017. Netflix's original movie 'Bright' was also well received by the audience, and it is now considered to be the most watched original films ever streamed by the on-demand internet streaming media provider.
The last quarter of 2017 was promising as their investments in content are paying off and the company revealed that an average member spent 9% more time watching Netflix in 2017, compared to 2016.
Industry experts believe that the tremendous growth of Netflix subscription is a visible sign of broader trends, as modern day customers are more interested in online entertainment, and they are not that obsessed with pay-TV subscriptions.
However, Netflix has now temporarily halted production of 'House of Cards' to write off Kevin Spacey's character as he was accused of sexual misconduct last year. The Company has also decided to postpone the release of the film 'Gore' which featured Spacey in the role of writer Gore Vidal.
