Netflix: India could generate 100m subs
February 26, 2018
By Chris Forrester
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, wrapping up a visit to India, said the country could generate 100 million users to its online streaming service.
Speaking at a conference in New Delhi on February 23rd, Hastings said: “It definitely helps to have confidence on the growth of the Internet. Even we couldn’t predict the last two years of Indian Internet growth.”
Hastings said he expects the next level of growth to come from international markets, where countries such as India will have a significant contribution. “The next 100 million is from India. We are at 120 million across the world,” he said.
He told delegates that Netflix costs Rs 500 (€6.26) to Rs 800 a month in India, which he admitted is more than a cable TV subscription cost, but this is because pay-TV cost in the country is subsidised by ads, while Netflix is an ad-free network.
“It’s about what a movie ticket would cost. We would like consumers to compare it with that (movie ticket) than what they pay for cable TV,” said Hastings.
To put the India target number of subscribers in context, there are about 94 million pay-TV subscribers in the US and 155 million in India.