Netflix Subscribers Watched Over 1 Billion Hours Of Video In June
Netflix subscribers spent a lot of time on the video streaming site last month. According to CEO Reed Hastings, users watched more than 1 billion hours of video in June.
In a Facebook post congratulating Ted Sarandos, the chief content officer at Netflix, Hastings wrote:
“Congrats to Ted Sarandos, and his amazing content licensing team. Netflix monthly viewing exceeded 1 billion hours for the first time ever in June. When House of Cards and Arrested Development debut, we’ll blow these records away. Keep going, Ted, we need even more!”
It’s the first time that Netflix has hit the 1 billion hour mark. Richard Greenfield of BTIG calculates that Netflix users spent an average of 80 minutes on the site per day during the month of June. Forbes reports that Netflix would have been the most watched cable channel during June if you adjust for distribution.
Andy Hargreaves, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, told Bloomberg:
“They are the clear leader in their space and still have growth opportunities… We had estimated their customers watched about 850 million hours per month in June, and they exceeded that,” he said. “People are watching more and there are more people watching.”
The Associated Press reports that Netflix currently offers unlimited streaming for just $8 a month, well below the average price for cable-TV. Netflix also currently has 26.5 million subscribers, which is four million more subscribers than Comcast.
But Netflix may start running into a few barriers. The video streaming service has to buy the rights to most of its content and if content providers start to lose money they could soon start raising the cost.
Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc., said:
“Content owners have complete control because Netflix can’t obtain it from elsewhere… If content owners charge Netflix more, margins will be squeezed, and if quality is sacrificed to keep costs down, Netflix risks losing viewers.”
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