Netflix's subscriber growth beats on new shows

(Reuters) - Netflix Inc added more U.S. and international subscribers than expected in the second quarter as new original shows such as "13 Reasons Why" as well as the latest season of hit political drama "House of Cards" helped attract more viewers.

Shares of the company were up 9 percent at $176.2 in trading after the bell.

The company said on Monday it added 4.14 million subscribers internationally in the quarter ended June 30, compared with the average analyst estimate of 2.59 million, according to data from analytics firm FactSet. http://bit.ly/2usBBdF

The streaming giant, whose original shows also include "Orange is the New Black" and "The Crown", added 1.07 million subscribers in the United States, compared with analysts' average expectation of 631,000.

 

The company's typically slow second quarter got a boost from the shift in the release of the fifth season of "House of Cards" from the first quarter.

Netflix - which has expanded globally in the last few years, rolling out shows in different languages - is expecting international subscriber additions of 3.65 million for the current quarter. Analysts on average had estimated 3.2 million additions.

The company, which crossed the 100 million subscriber mark in April, said it expected positive international contribution for the full year.

Netflix is spending $6 billion a year on content to lure new subscribers in a quest to become the dominant streaming service around the world even as it faces a slowdown in the United States.

The Los Gatos, California-based company said revenue rose 32.3 percent to $2.79 billion in the quarter.

The company's net income rose to $65.6 million, or 15 cents per share, in the latest quarter from $40.8 million, or 9 cents per share, a year earlier.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)