Netflix, Inc. continues to thrive with the online streaming company adding a record number of new subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The company, which announced its final global expansion two weeks ago, booked 5.59 million new subscribers for the quarter, ahead of an original projection of 5.15 million.

International expansion, in a quarter before the Netflix Everywhere announcement, came in at 3.5 million new subscribers, with new subscriber growth in the United States coming in at 1.65 million.

Earnings per share for the quarter were 10 cents per share, well ahead of the market prediction of 2 cents a share, however revenue came in at $1.67 billion, below projections of $1.83 billion.

The company said in a letter to shareholders that it now has 74.76 million paid subscribers worldwide, and that it expects to add 6.1 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2016, given it is now available everywhere on the globe with the notable exception of China.

Content

Along with great numbers, Netflix also extolled the virtues of its original programming, noting that in the year ahead it planned to deliver 600 hours of new shows, up from 450 hours in 2015.

“In Q4 ‘15, we launched an unprecedented number of original series and films, while maintaining a high bar on quality,” the letter from Netflix noted. “We unveiled five new original series in Q4, including Marvel’s Jessica Jones and Master of None, starring Aziz Ansari. Both combined with Narcos, Sense8, Marvel’s Daredevil and Bloodline, claim six of the Top 10 new TV shows of 2015 according to IMDB.”

“In 2016, we plan to launch over 600 hours of original programming, up from about 450 hours in 2015. Beyond the sheer volume of content, the breadth of our original programming will continue to expand with current plans for new seasons of 30 or so original series (including The Crown and The Get Down), eight original feature films, 35 new seasons of original series for kids, a dozen documentaries, and nine stand up comedy specials,” the letter continued.

Also of note in the report was Netflix’s report of its share of peak download internet traffic in North America, which has now increased to a staggering 37 percent, up from 21 percent in 2010, versus YouTube at 18 percent and competitors Hulu and Amazon Video both on 3 percent respectively.

Wall Street reacted positively to the news pushing Netflix stock up 6.91 percent in after hours trading to $115.35 per share.

 Image credit: Duncan Riley.