Jon Erlichman

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Netflix has fought to keep its Canadian subscriber data under lock and key, even clashing over the data with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission at a hearing in 2014. Estimates obtained by BNN suggest the streaming service’s top line is getting a big boost from this country.

Research firm SNL Kagan told BNN its calculations suggest there were 4.3 million Canadian Netflix subscribers as of the end of last year. That’s more than 12 per cent of the country’s population and represents an increase of nearly 20 per cent from 3.6 million subscribers it estimated Netflix had at the end of 2014.

If all 4.3 million estimated Canadian customers were paying Netflix’s standard plan rate of $9.99 a month, that would suggest revenue in Canada of more than $515 million a year. Not bad, less than six years after its Canadian launch.

Growing demand for streaming services has increased competition since Netflix entered the Canadian market. CraveTV (owned by Bell Media, the parent company of BNN) and Shomi (co-owned by Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications) are making their own big push for subscribers.

“We’ve seen significant [CraveTV subscriber] growth since our OTT launch and are currently pacing above target,” Bell Media spokesperson Scott Henderson told BNN via email.

Rogers was not available for comment on Shomi’s subscriber growth.

Late Monday, Netflix reported 81.5 million global subscribers in its first quarter of 2016. That represents a 245% increase from the same period five years ago. Back in 2010, Netflix’s entrance into Canada represented its first foray outside the United State. Since then, it’s been rolling out service in new markets at a staggering rate. As of January, Netflix had launched in more than 190 countries worldwide.

Also in the first quarter, the company’s international revenue increased 57 per cent – far outpacing its 18 per cent revenue growth in the U.S.