Milestone: More People Are Now Willing To Pay For Netflix Than Traditional Cable TV

Netflix, Inc. NFLX investors have reason to celebrate as the company achieved a notable victory in its quest to take on major cable providers.

For the first time, Netflix now boasts more subscribers than the largest cable pay-TV providers in the country, Statista noted. Based on data from Leichtman Research Group, Netflix's total subscriber base at the end of March reached 50.9 million users versus the 48.6 million subscribers shared by all major cable providers.

Even though cable represents just 50 percent of the U.S. pay-TV market, it's nevertheless a major milestone for Netflix. By comparison, in the first quarter of 2012, Netflix had just 23.41 million subscribers versus the cable industry which had a combined 52.60 million subscribers at the time.

Netflix can now be considered the No. 1 source of home entertainment, Statista suggested. What's more interesting: Netflix achieved this status by growing its own subscriber base and not necessarily relying on fed-up cable consumers who "cut the cord" in favor of cheaper alternatives.

In other words, Netflix didn't win by gaining the 4 million subscribers cable companies lost since 2012 — it won by adding 27 million members of its own.