Web sales continue to stream in for Netflix

Netflix grew its top and bottom line in the third quarter.

For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, Netflix, which broke out today and is No. 14 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, reported:

• Web sales increased 30.7% to $553.2 million from $423.1 million in the third quarter of 2009.
• Net income grew year over year 25.9% to $37.9 million from $30.1 million.
• The total number of subscribers increased 52.3% to 16.9 million from 11.1 million in the third quarter of 2009.

“Q3 represents our fourth consecutive quarter of more than 1 million net subscriber additions. This growth is clearly driven by the strength of our streaming offering. In fact, by every measure, we are now primarily a streaming company that also offers DVD-by-mail,” says CEO Reed Hastings. “At the same time, the introduction of our streaming offering in Canada in late September has provided us with very encouraging signs regarding the potential for the Netflix service internationally.”

 For the first three quarters, Netflix reports:

• Web sales increased 27.9% to $1.56 billion from $1.22 billion in the first three quarters of 2009.
• Net income grew year over year 34% to $113.8 million from $84.9 million.

Netflix expects revenue to range from $586 million to $598 million in the fourth quarter. The estimate for full year sales is $2.15 billion to $2.16 billion.