Netflix Expands To More Countries

Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings announced recently that the video-streaming company has expanded its operations into at least 130 additional countries. However, this expansion does not include China.

The announcement highlighted the wide expansion of the operations of the company, which was initially limited to 60 countries. Hasting made the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. He told the audience that they are witnessing the start of an international TV network.

The expansion added India, Poland, Nigeria, South Korea, Russia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia into its network. While Hastings said the company aims to enter the Chinese market in the future, he did not provide any specific time frame for this.

The goal of the company is to reach at least 200 countries within the year. Due to this, the recent announcement caught industry watches by surprise since they did not expect the expansion to happen so fast. The move of Netflix allowed its shares to go up by around six percent.

Jackdaw Research chief analyst said the announcement was amazing since it is the first time a paid video service expanded its reach to a global level.

Expansion to other countries became a critical component in the growth strategy of the company due to the slowdown in its growth within the United States. The company has around 70 million subscribers around the world with over half of the subscribers based in the US. The service offered by the company is popular among customers around the world as the company increased the number of countries that can access it increasing number of original content at a low monthly fee.

Netflix Expands To More Countries - image credit: wired.com

However, Netflix has yet to enter the Chinese market even as the company made known its intention of entering the market. While the company indicated that it may take into account “modest” options for China, it has yet to obtain a license in the country.

Restrictions from the US government prevent Netflix from entering Syria, Crimea and South Korea. Dawson said the company may have to deal with expenses associated with its expansion to a good number of countries at the same time.

In addition to English, the company also added the Arabic, Korean and Chinese languages to the seventeen languages the service already supports.

Netflix transformed the way people watch videos, which resulted to binge-watching among subscribers. It also resulted to a good number of people cutting off their cable subscriptions. The company is also increasing the number of feature-length movies and original television shows it offers to its subscribers.

In addition to announcing its expansion, the company also revealed trailers for new series it aims to stream thus year. With the growth of the company, its competition has also increased as Google joins Hulu and Amazon as the rivals of the company in the market. Cable operators are also facing issues in maintaining their customer base.

Last year, the announcement of the company was somewhat muted as it revealed its “Netflix Recommended” television program. The program provided advice to consumers when they purchase smart televisions. The recommended devices would have a user-friendly menu, better performance and new features aim at enhancing the viewing experience of their subscribers.

Posted by George Daniels on Thursday January 07 2016, 10:41 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Technology. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0