Netflix Scores Big Investing In Building Its International Audience

One of the most notable differences in Netflix's business profile is its international subscriber base. Shares of Netflix soared to a new all-time high on Thursday of $143.46 after the company's fourth-quarter results satisfied investors demand for evidence its business still has room to grow.

International More Important Than Ever

Netflix said that its net sub adds in the United States were 1.93 million and international sub adds were 5.12 million. This exceeded the company's own expectations of adding 1.45 million users in the United States and 3.75 million users internationally.

Netflix ended the fiscal year with 93.8 million members on 19.0 million net additions, marking an increase from 17.4 million in 2015.

Netflix announced just over one year ago to the day that it will expand its platform to 130 countries.

Needless to say, Netflix has come a long way from when it expanded to Canada in 2010, marking its first market outside of the United States.

As noted by Statista, Netflix grew its international business over the year but it hasn't really gained traction since 2014 when 32 percent of its total 57.39 million subscriber base were located outside of the United States.

In 2015, 40 percent of Netflix's 74.76 million users were located internationally and at the end of 2016 47 percent of its 93.80 million users were located internationally.

It appears it is merely a matter of time before Netflix's international user base exceeded its domestic base.