From the beginning, Netflix has emphasised on streaming movies and online TV shows. In each of their earning calls, they have played down the possibility of making the content downloadable. However, CEO Reed Hasting has now hinted that they might allow users to download content soon.
This change will impact markets such as India where there are a lot of bandwidth and speed issues. Earlier, Google had introduced YouTube Offline feature in 2014. This feature allowed people to download videos on their mobile devices and watch it at a later time even if there is no internet connectivity.
"We should keep an open mind on this. We’ve been so focused on click-and-watch and the beauty and simplicity of streaming. But as we expand around the world, where we see an uneven set of networks, it’s something we should keep an open mind about," said Hastings when Re/Code asked him about the downloads.
In the earnings call, Netflix revealed that 42% members of the service are outside US now. The company expanded their reach by launching the service in 130 countries in January.
The international revenue increased 57% year-on-year with 4.51 million new members added in Q1 2016. And the revenue in the US rose 18 % with 2.23 million users added.
Netflix in concentrating a lot on producing the original content. They citied the reason of their growth in Q1 is shows such as Daredevil season 2, Making a Murderer, Fuller House and so on. In India, they have even signed a deal with Brahman Naman director in India for the original content.
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