Focus on streaming content lifts Netflix in Q2

Reed Hastings

As it rolls more into the business of streaming videos to customers via the Internet instead of mailing them DVDs, Netflix Inc. is basking in steeply rising revenue and profits.

For the second quarter ended June 30, Netflix reported:

• Revenue surged 51.7% year over year to $788.61 million from $519.82 million.
• Net income rose 56.7% to $68.21 million from $43.52 million.
• The number of paid subscribers grew 70.4% to 25.56 million from 15.0 million in the second quarter of 2010. Nearly all of those subscribers, or 24.59 million, were in the U.S.

Netflix executives say that nearly 75% of its new subscribers are signing up for its streaming service, causing its traditional DVD-by-mail shipments to have hit their peak.

“Streaming is continuing to grow rapidly, and with the recently introduced price changes, we’ll be able to further increase the scope and quality of our streaming content,” CEO Reed Hastings and chief financial officer David Wells write in a letter this week to shareholders.

Netflix, No. 13 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, recently raised its subscription price for receiving both streaming content and DVDs by 60%, to $15.98 from $9.99, though it now also subscriptions to streaming or mailed DVDs separately, at $7.99 each.

For the six months ended June 30, Netflix reports:

● Revenue rose about 49% year over year to $1.51 billion from $1.01 billion;

● Net income rose about 69% year over year to $128.45 million from $75.79 million.