Netflix signs up its one millionth UK subscriber

Hot on the heals of yesterday’s announcement that Virgin Media will sign up their one millionth TiVo customer this week, Netflix has announced that only six short months after launching, the streaming service now has over 1 million subscribers in the UK.

After such a swift start, Netflix has now discounted LOVEFiLM as it’s main rival. The Amazon-owned company claims it has 2 million subscribers to the DVD rental and limited-streaming service while there are no numbers available for LOVEFiLM Instant, the streaming-only option that launched the same time as Netflix’s UK début.

Netflix’s chief executive Reed Hastings claims that the company’s main challenge comes in the shape of Sky’s Now TV. “We believe we have pulled ahead of LOVEFiLM in every important streaming-related metric,” Hastings said. “Going forward, competing effectively with Sky is our core and substantial challenge.”

The second quarter of 2012 saw Netflix earning revenue of $889 million, up from $789 million in the same period the previous year. Netflix now has just under 24 million subscribers for the US market and a total of 3.62 million subscribers from its international locations.

In a letter to shareholders Hastings went on to say that while expansion in to new international territories will be momentarily put on hold to focus on revenue, there is always room for growth. Netflix is expected to launch in Sweden before the end of the year.