Netflix to pass 100 million international subs by 2020

Netflix is aiming for 104 million international subscribers by 2020 in the foreign markets where it is already launched, according to Digital TV Research estimates.

The figure is extrapolated from comments made by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings last week at the CTAM EuroSummit in Copenhagen, where he said that in general Netflix aims to establish itself in a third of homes seven years after launching in a new market.

Based on Digital TV Research’s projected numbers, in 2020 Netflix can expect to have 11.3 million subscribers in Germany, 9.5 million in the UK and 8.3 million in France – the biggest European TV markets where it is currently live.

Add to this the Baltic countries, Latin America, and the remainder of its European footprint – namely Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria and Swtizerland, where it rolled out last week – and Netflix’s total 2020 international figures could total 103.9 million.

However, in actuality, the figure could well be higher still. At CTAM last week, Hastings said that Netflix will make decisions next year about expanding more in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe.

He also hinted at a possible Asian push, saying “over the next three or four years, think of us as at least trying to expand around the world.”