NetFlix 2007 Annual Report Download - page 33

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Overview
Our Business
We are the largest online movie rental subscription service in the United States, providing approximately
7.5 million subscribers access to approximately 90,000 DVD titles plus a library of more than 6,000 choices that can
be watched instantly on their PCs. We offer nine subscription plans, starting at $4.99 a month. There are no due
dates, no late fees and no shipping fees. Subscribers select titles at our Web site aided by our proprietary
recommendation service, receive them on DVD by U.S. mail and return them to us at their convenience using our
prepaid mailers. After a DVD has been returned, we mail the next available DVD in a subscriber’s queue. We also
offer certain titles through our instant-watching feature. The terms and conditions by which subscribers utilize our
service and a more detailed description of how our service works can be found at www.netflix.com/TermsOfUse.
Our core strategy is to grow a large DVD subscription business and to expand into Internet-based delivery
of content as that market develops. We believe that the DVD format, along with its high definition successor
formats, including Blu-ray, will continue to be the main vehicle for watching content in the home for the
foreseeable future and that by growing a large DVD subscription business, we will be well positioned to
transition our subscribers and our business to Internet-based delivery of content if it becomes the preferred
consumer medium for accessing content.
Key Business Metrics
Management periodically reviews certain key business metrics within the context of our articulated
performance goals in order to evaluate the effectiveness of our operational strategies, allocate resources and
maximize the financial performance of our business. The key business metrics include the following:
•Churn: Churn is a monthly measure defined as customer cancellations in the quarter divided by the
sum of beginning subscribers and gross subscriber additions, then divided by three months. Management
reviews this metric to evaluate whether we are retaining our existing subscribers in accordance with our
business plans.
•Subscriber Acquisition Cost: Subscriber acquisition cost is defined as total marketing expense divided
by total gross subscriber additions. Management reviews this metric to evaluate how effective our
marketing programs are in acquiring new subscribers on an economical basis in the context of estimated
subscriber lifetime value.
•Gross Margin: Management reviews gross margin to monitor variable costs and operating efficiency.
Management believes it is useful to monitor these metrics together and not individually as it does not make
business decisions based upon any single metric. Please see “Results of Operations” below for further discussion
on these key business metrics.
Performance Highlights
The following represents our 2007 performance highlights:
2007 2006 2005
Revenues .......................................... $1,205,340 $996,660 $682,213
Netincome ........................................ 66,952 49,082 42,027
Net income per share—diluted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 0.97 $ 0.71 $ 0.64
Total subscribers at end of period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,479 6,316 4,179
Churn(annualized) .................................. 4.3% 4.1% 4.5%
Subscriber acquisition cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 40.88 $ 42.96 $ 38.77
Grossmargin ....................................... 34.8% 37.1% 31.7%
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