Netflix blames churn, competition for missed targets, dive in profits

New York

NETFLIX has hit a bump in the road as it pushes ahead on its quest to reach 60 million to 90 million subscribers in the US and, by the end of 2016, become fully global.

The company said on Wednesday that third-quarter profit tumbled 50 per cent compared with last year, missing its forecasts as it reported worse-than-expected streaming growth in the US.

Netflix said that it added 3.62 million total streaming members during the quarter, as it continued its aggressive global expansion and investment in original programming. That brings the total number of paid streaming members to 66.02 million, up from the 50.65 million during the same period in 2014.

In the US, Netflix missed its forecasts for subscriber growth. The company added 880,000 US subscribers during the quarter, less than the 1.15 million net additions it had expected. Its total paid membership count in the country is now 42.07 million, sh…