In its Q1 2012 earnings report, Netflix logged $870 million in revenue for the fiscal year, with a loss of only 8 cents per share, which exceeded analyst expectations – and this performance is primarily due to a rise in streaming subscriptions. At present, the worldwide number is roughly 26 million.

Coming out of its Qwikster snafu, Netflix has been focusing on streaming services, and added almost 3 million customers in the last year – 1.74 million in the U.S., and 1.21 million internationally. DVD-only subscriptions were again in decline, with a loss of 1.08 million, down to 10.09 million total. Still, 7 million of these customers also subscribe to Netflix streaming. Streaming will likely continue to completely overtake physical DVD media.

Netflix is also delving into producing original content, with the impending release of a new season of Arrested Development, as well as the mobster drama LilyHammer, which is presently available. Netflix has stated, “We are now treating it (original content) as a capability we should build, like international, to achieve our long-term ambitions. What is still uncertain is when or whether we will take it beyond five percent of our large content spend.” Or, the streaming service looks to better compete with HBO.

Netflix has called HBO a network “that is strategically motivated to impede our growth,” in a press release, and CEO Reed Hastings once said that Netflix will become just another cable provider – “It’s not in the short term, but it’s in the natural direction for us in the long term. Many (cable service providers) would like to have a competitor to HBO, and they would bid us off of HBO.” The company presently bills itself as the “world’s leading Internet TV network.”

I’ve yet to see LilyHammer, but I’m all for a network trying to come up with a show to compete with Kenny Powers.