Netflix Streams 1.5 Billion Minutes of Video to XBox 360

In a joint press release issued Thursday morning, Microsoft (MSFT) and Netflix (NFLX) announced that to date, Netflix members have streamed 1.5 billion minutes worth of videos to the XBOX 360 console. Considering the Netflix streaming service has only been available to the XBOX 360 console for the past three months, I think anyone would view that as a huge number with great success early on.

To put that number into perspective as it pertains to bits delivered, since we know the technical details on how Netflix encodes videos, since November, content delivery companies Limelight Networks (LLNW) and Level 3 (LVLT) combined have delivered nearly 25 million GB of data. That's some serious traffic.

While the 1.5 billion minutes is huge, it's still very small when compared to the total minutes of content they ship via their DVD business. If we use the numbers Netflix has on their website, they ship around 730 million DVDs a year. If we use an average of 120 minutes per DVD, Netflix ships roughly 88 billion minutes of video in the mail, if I did my math right. So the streaming service is still very small in the overall picture but clearly has some really nice traction in only three months time.

The release also stated that Netflix's application for the XBOX 360 has been downloaded and activated by one million XBOX Live Gold Members but keep in mind that does not mean one million unique consoles since every XBOX Live account can contain multiple profiles or members. UPDATED: Microsoft's PR folks responded to my question on the one million number and said that the number of multiple gold account houses (on a single console versus two), where both accounts also have a Netflix subscription, has to be rare. So they wouldn't expect the correlative number of consoles to be anything less than around 95-98 percent of 1 million, if not higher.

These viewing numbers clearly highlight that the XBOX 360 console is by far the most important broadband connected device for the success of Netflix's streaming service. That really comes as no surprise considering that to date, Microsoft has sold nearly 14 million XBOX 360 consoles in the U.S., which is far more than the Roku, TiVo, Blu-ray players and broadband enabled TVs combined.

Disclosure: None

Comments

[idahophil63:]

you did your math wrong, your comparing 3 months to a year. So if you average out 3 months from that year your direct comparison would be 21900000000. A far cry from your 88 billion.

Feb 08 11:03 AM

[Question...:]

I'm one of the people who signed up, and I have to say it's awesome! Dramatically changed my media habits. I've never been interested in Netflix as a way to get DVDs by mail, because I really don't want to deal with DVDs. But being able to pay small monthly fee and get as many movies as I want on my tv is fantastic.

There is room for improvement, of course. Not all movies are available yet via my XBOX 360. Also, I can't browse the full netflix catalog and add new movies to my "instant queue" via the XBOX 360 -- need to do that with a computer, or I can use the Netflix app on my phone (a HTC Fuze with Windows Mobile) which helps a little bit.

Fix those two things - keep expanding the catalog, and let me browse it from the XBOX 360 directly, and it would be absolutely just right for me!

Feb 08 01:48 PM

[podiyan:]

similar to the concept of netflix plug in for media center. you can get it at www.anpark.com/index.p.../

Feb 09 01:44 AM

[sunnincali:]

I think Microsoft should partner up with Sirius and take advantage of the way information is showered onto us via the airwaves.

Feb 09 10:26 PM

[itsME:]

Wow, way to skew the numbers there buddy. If you break it down by HOURS per user, you get 25 hours. WOW. And this makes news how? The service is nice though...I have peace of mind that I can watch "Kazaam" or "From Justin to Kelly" whenever I so desire. Out of the 12,000 titles, only about 11,950 suck.

Feb 10 02:11 PM