Netflix Surpasses 1 Million Users In UK And Ireland

Sites include Netflix.com . Published on September 5th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

The fallout in the US market might be still fresh in the minds of the Netflix board but the company’s fortune in Europe is going rather well. The 1 million or so subscribers that cancelled when Netflix raised prices 60% a year ago seem to have magically reappeared in Europe.

According to a release from the company, it has surpassed 1 million users in the UK and Ireland—a feat which it is quick to point out was achieved faster than micro-blogging platform, Twitter.

Of course, Netflix has a ways to go in terms of capturing huge market share in Europe. Sky Broadcasting (Murdoch owned) and Virgin are still the dominant players in the space—especially in the UK.

Netflix CEO and founder Reed Hastings thinks that users in those regions are undergoing a shift in thinking (and allegiance): “This membership milestone is evidence that Netflix has rapidly gained popularity in the UK and Ireland. Our British and Irish members clearly enjoy the ability to instantly watch a large variety of TV shows and films streaming from Netflix on their favorite devices whenever they want.”

Hastings and crew plans to roll out the service across Europe and the next stops on the subscriber-acquisition spree is Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland—basically the most of Scandinavia. So long as Hastings keeps his head and doesn’t do anything silly like hiking prices, Netflix should be fine.