Though not officially a cable network in the traditional sense, Netflix purveyor of a movie and television catalog that reaches into the millions, is reporting that it reached 34 million subscribers in Quarter 2013.
According to the information it passed on to investors in a summary of it’s earnings, the company added 2.03 million subscribers in the United States. Due to the rise in subscribers the company reached $3 million in profit. By comparison cable service Comcast has 22 million subscribers according to the NCTA.
It can’t be a coincidence that these subscribers come in the same quarter as the company launched a new slate of original programming designed to hook viewers into trying the service. Our favorite of the slate, House of Cards debuted with a plenty of fanfare -we even included it our first edition of Watch This. According to Netflix, of the users who subscribed to just watch the show, only 8,000 of them canceled after they finished watching the series. (You’ll remember Netflix, made all 13 episodes available all at one time.)
Netflix also announced that it would begin offering a new $11.99 monthly plan for users who need up to four simultaneous video streams at a time. Currently, the default $7.99 plan only allows users to watch two streams at a time.
Microsoft announced that it would be creating it’s own content this past year, though it seems to be focusing on interactive experiences, according to studio head, Nancy Tellum. Currently the Netflix is offered on Xbox LIVE, Windows 8, and Windows Phone devices.
Correction Early reports of this story indicated that Netflix was the world’s largest cable company. It is in fact the United States’ largest cable company/premium television content provider.
