In a bid to grow its global footprint and find new customers, Netflix launches its popular video streaming service in six European markets on Tuesday.
Netflix streaming will henceforth be available in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg.
There are a couple of question marks however behind Netflix’ European push, however. While Americans are used to shelling out big bucks for cable TV, Europeans, and Germans in particular, have proven hesitant to pay for TV content in the past. In Germany, where a reasonably large selection of public and private television stations is available for free (apart from a monthly fee mandatory to everyone owning a TV set), pay TV has long been a money-burning business.
Sky Deutschland, Germany’s only relevant pay TV provider, currently has 3.8 million subscribers and that number would likely be considerably lower if it weren’t for Sky’s extensive live sports coverage.
Another major problem for Netflix is one that the company shortsightedly created itself: having sold exclusive distribution rights for its hit series “House of Cards” to Sky Deutschland and Canal+ in Germany and France, respectively, Netflix will not be able to rely on the star power of Kevin Spacey to attract customers in the two most important markets it’s entering tomorrow.
This chart shows the availability and worldwide user growth of Netflix’ video streaming service.
You will find more statistics at Statista
