Netflix releases worldwide subscriber stats by region for the first time

For the first time, Netflix is reporting its international business operating results by region. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Netflix shared its streaming revenue and membership info for the US and Canada; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Asia-Pacific and Latin America. This change in how Netflix reports its earnings data highlights how important markets outside the US have become -- especially as Netflix faces new competition.

As Deadline points out, more than half of Netflix's 158 million global subscribers and 90 percent of its growth now come from outside the US. Since the first quarter of 2017, the European region has seen a 140 percent increase in subscribers. The number of subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region has more than tripled in the same time, and Latin America now has 29.4 million subscribers, up from just 15.4 million in the first quarter of 2017.

The US and Canada still have the most subscribers -- 67.1 million -- and brought in $7.4 billion in the first three quarters of 2019. But membership only grew 23 percent from the first quarter of 2017 to the third quarter of 2019. Netflix is also facing competition from new streaming platforms, like Disney+, Apple TV+ and HBO Max. Those could cause growth to slow even more in the saturated US and Canada market, so we may see Netflix focussing on growth overseas.