NFLX 1.91% Netflix Inc. NFLX 1.91% released new metrics revealing how fast it is expanding in specific regions of the world, in an effort to persuade Wall Street to focus more on its growth outside the increasingly competitive U.S. market.
The disclosures of detailed subscriber and revenue information for non-U.S. operations came Monday in a federal securities filing. Investors and analysts have been eager for more granular information about the nature of Netflix’s business.
Europe, the Middle East and Africa—grouped as a region in Netflix’s numbers—has more than doubled in subscribers since the start of 2017, and is the largest non-U.S. region, the data show. Latin America has also posted sharp growth, while Asia is promising but still a small portion of the overall business.
Overall, Netflix has 158.3 million members globally.
Netflix’s subscription growth in the U.S. has long been a key signal for Wall Street and a major driver of the stock. But growth has begun to slow, and the company is set to face greater competition as new streaming rivals come online.
Last month, both Walt Disney Co. and Apple Inc. launched new direct-to-consumer streaming services. Next year AT&T Inc. ’s WarnerMedia will debut its new streaming service HBO Max, and Comcast Corp. ’s NBCUniversal will roll out its Peacock platform. Pricing competition in the U.S. also will be intense. The Disney+ service is $6.99 a month compared with $12.99 a month for Netflix’s most popular plan. Comcast is planning a low-cost ad-supported service.
Netflix shares are down 16% from mid-July, when the company’s second-quarter report showed the first drop in U.S. subscribers in nearly a decade.
Under its new financial-reporting approach, Netflix is grouping U.S. results with Canada’s, which could brighten the results mildly: In the quarter ended Sept. 30, the U.S. and Canada together gained 613,000 customers for a total of 67 million, according to the filing. In its quarterly report for that same period filed in October, Netflix had said 520,000 U.S. customers were added, bringing the total to around 60 million.
Netflix began a massive international expansion in 2016 when it tripled its reach by launching in 130 countries. That has required navigating tricky regulations and investing in local programming. Global scale is central to Netflix’s business model, giving the company the financial wherewithal to spend huge sums in Hollywood to develop content.
In the Europe and Middle East and Africa region, Netflix said it had 47.4 million subscribers as of Sept. 30, compared with 19.7 million subscribers as of March 31, 2017, a 140% jump over that span. Revenue during that same time frame nearly tripled to $4 billion.
Latin America has nearly doubled to 29.4 million subscribers from 15.4 million in the same period, the company said, and revenue more than doubled to $2 billion.
The Asia-Pacific region has more than tripled during the same period to 14.5 million subscribers from 4.7 million, and revenue has increased to $1 billion from $116 million.
One concern on Wall Street was that Netflix wouldn’t be able to charge as much overseas for its service as in the U.S., meaning foreign growth wouldn’t be as lucrative as U.S. growth. According to the filing, the U.S. and Canada still provide Netflix with the highest average monthly revenue per subscriber, but the other regions aren’t far off.
As of Sept. 30 of this year, the average monthly subscriber revenue for the U.S. and Canada was $12.36. On a neutral exchange basis, the Europe and Middle East and Africa region averaged $10.90. In the Asia-Pacific region, it was $9.58, and in Latin America $9.35.
When it releases its fourth-quarter and full-year results for 2019, Netflix will report subscriber growth for the various regions. Netflix also said it would only provide subscriber guidance for global paid subscriptions, with no regional breakouts.
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Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
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