Netflix Pops 45% Gains In Q4 In Terrible Economy

  • By: HomeTheaterReview.com,

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Now we know what people have been doing with their spare time after being fired - they are watching rented movies. Online movies rental house Netflix announced today an impressive 45 percent increase in profit in the fourth quarter. Revenue overall was up 19 percent and the company is close to breaking the 10 million subscriber mark.

Netflix rents predominantly DVD-Video discs, but has seen a surge in Blu-ray rentals, despite the fact that the company charges an extra $1 per month for the right to rent Blu-ray movies. Even in an economy that loses 70,000 jobs in a day, consumers can justify the cost of a Netflix subscription because of the incredible value offered. Consumers pay based on how many (and what variety - such as Blu-ray) discs they want to be able to rent at any time. Netflix is also making smart strides to be the leading download firm by having deals with gaming systems and Blu-ray players to allow standard-definition downloads to come right to your source components. This was previously territory reserved exclusively for pay-per-view services via cable and satellite. Now the Internet and AV source components are making their move as home entertainment moves towards a downloadable future and Netflix leads the way.

  • Comment on this article

  • By Bill

I can totally relate to this, well watching movies that is... thank God I haven't lost my job... yet...

Back in 2004 I got so sick of bad cable programming and excessive commercials that we dropped cable completely and didn't get it again until 2008! It was so bad that one time I was watching Star Wars on the Sci-Fi channel and they went to commercial break and I swear the break had to be almost 15 minutes! It was so long I actually forgot which movie was playing.

Anyway, we joined Netflix and love them and still are members. We'd get a TV series and two movies and throw them in a five disc DVD player along with other DVDs we owned and it almost felt like watching cable but without the commercials. Now with the Watch it Now movies and TV series they have... a person could drop their cable and save at least a hundred bucks a month and still have a Netflix membership.

  • By chrisy

I agree, I'm hooked on Netflix - and DVR. It's hard to watch regular television anymore. Netflix deliveries are pretty fast. I haven't tried the "Watch It Now" yet though.

  • By KLDEL

I love Netflix and have been a subscriber since October of 2004. I even know people who have gone off of Satellite and cable because the value is so much better! For what I spend on a yearly subscription (with the extra $1 for Blu-ray), I could get five newly released Blu-ray discs OR unlimited access to 3 discs at home at any time. Five Blu-rays vs. 140+ rentals - not a hard comparison!

  • By Ken Taraszka, MD

I have had Netflix since 1999, yes that long! I still have a four disc membership. I couldn't live without it and a DVR, and it saves me from buying all those discs I hear are great, watch once and return!!!

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