Xbox Live tallies 1 million Netflix Watch Instantly activations, 1.5 billion minutes served

Bad news first: there might be a bit more competition than you expected for that home theater giveaway. Good luck bringing down Netflix's shooting star though, as if last week's good news train wasn't enough comes news that over a million Xbox Live Gold members have already downloaded and activated the Watch Instantly app since its NXE debut last November. That's more than 10% of Netflix's just announced 9.4 million subscribers who've already watched over 1.5 billion minutes of TV and movies through their consoles. They're not the only ones happy, while streaming may be eating into DVD rentals, Xbox Live Marketplace rentals are up 174 percent year over year. The streaming library is up to 12,000 titles, with a "growing percentage" in high definition, for the rest of the celebratory details check the full PR after the break. Nothing left for us to say but congratulations and hey, if you get a minute, could you fix Nilay's HD streaming on the Xbox? Thanks.

For Release 12:01 a.m. PST
Feb. 5, 2009

One Million Xbox LIVE Members Download and Activate Netflix on Xbox360
1.5 billion minutes watched instantly by Xbox LIVE community.

REDMOND, Wash., and LOS GATOS, Calif. - Feb. 5, 2009 - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: "MSFT") and Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: "NFLX") today announced that 1 million Xbox LIVE Gold members have downloaded and activated the groundbreaking Xbox LIVE application from Netflix since the alliance launched last November. In less than three months the Xbox LIVE community has watched instantly 1.5 billion minutes of movies and TV episodes.
The Netflix application offers Xbox LIVE Gold members the ability to instantly watch movies and TV episodes from Netflix on a television via the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. Xbox 360 is the only gaming and entertainment console that lets viewers instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix. Xbox LIVE Gold members who are also Netflix unlimited members can instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed instantly from Netflix on Xbox LIVE for no additional fee.

"Adding Netflix to our ever-growing library of 30,000 movies and TV shows makes Xbox 360 the best value in home entertainment," said John Schappert, corporate vice president of Interactive Entertainment, LIVE, Software and Services Business at Microsoft. "With over 1 million activations and 1.5 billion minutes watched to date, Netflix is a great win for Xbox living rooms nationwide. These families are getting more entertainment from Xbox 360 than from any other device connected to their TVs."

"Netflix continues to provide its 9.4 million subscribers unprecedented convenience, selection and value," said Netflix Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Kilgore. "With more than 100,000 titles on DVD and 12,000 movies and TV episodes available to watch instantly, there's no better way to enjoy movies than Netflix. As these strong results on Xbox demonstrate, Xbox LIVE is a terrific way for Netflix members to enjoy watching movies instantly on their TVs."

In addition to Netflix in the United States, Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace offers over 17,000 pieces of standard and high-definition (HD) content to the Xbox LIVE community. From December 2008 to January 2009, Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace downloads have grown 174 percent year over year.

More than 12,000 movies and TV episodes are currently available to watch instantly from Netflix, with more on the way. A growing percentage of choices that are available to watch instantly are also available in HD.

The library of movies and TV episodes available to watch instantly from Netflix via Xbox 360 includes scores of Academy Award winners and nominees; a number of popular, currently running and classic TV episodes; more than 20 of the movies rated by the American Film Institute among the greatest ever; and access to the Starz Play service.

[Hamidxa @ Feb 5th 2009 3:07AM]

I can't remember the last time I actually purchased/rented a DVD movie.
Online/digital distribution is the way to go, and with the right tools we can perform our own backups.

Also good for MS and their Xbox division.

[NHAnimator @ Feb 5th 2009 8:38AM]

We're gonna need a bigger Internet.

[Why should I have all the fun? @ Feb 5th 2009 9:12AM]

Don't worry. The govt. has already ordered additional "tubes".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtOoQFa5ug8&feature=related

[zioncat @ Feb 5th 2009 3:09AM]

Personally I don't like neflix on xbox, you have to add what you want to watch from the website. Then it pops up available on the xobx. It would make more sense if you could scroll and view directly from the console.

[CaramelZappa @ Feb 5th 2009 3:56AM]

That's how instant netflix works on any compatable player. With such a large selection, finding what you actually want with a 360 controller or remote would be a chore, anyways. If it really bothers you, use a Wii to add the movies, switch the tv to your 360's input and play the movie from there.

[seriousam7 @ Feb 5th 2009 4:01AM]

haha zappa, thats exactly what we do

[Dave Bach @ Feb 5th 2009 6:32AM]

I'd sure like to see Microsoft figure out how to offer up the ability for us to select our Netflix movies on the XBOX too...beyond that which we already have in our cue. Hey, if boxee can figure it out (which they have already) then why can't Microsoft?

[Mitch @ Feb 5th 2009 12:00PM]

@Dave Bach

Microsoft probably didn't write the software, Netflix probably did since from what I've seen all the software is very similar on all the players.

[nerdtalker @ Feb 5th 2009 3:26AM]

Am I going crazy or is the CSS screwing up and displaying as a nice, solid blue on this page instead of the usual blue-green?

Also, the author's name... Lawler? LMAO!

[j.d.ripper @ Feb 5th 2009 3:51AM]

I'm afraid you're going crazy.

[Daza @ Feb 5th 2009 5:48AM]

You still may be crazy (I'm not a psychologist) but the colours have definitely changed to a solid blue.

[PSN: Aggie_CEO @ Feb 5th 2009 7:14AM]

damn near all the links have gone solid blue......

[teej @ Feb 5th 2009 10:27AM]

IETF to the rescue!!!

[teej @ Feb 5th 2009 10:28AM]

fyi- a user's name turns back to the aquamarine color if you've viewed their profile.

[j.d.ripper @ Feb 5th 2009 3:50AM]

" 1.5 billion minutes watched" gotta love those marketing guys :-) minutes ?
Create the biggest number we can find and push it out there so it sounds as impressive as possible.

[seriousam7 @ Feb 5th 2009 3:54AM]

fine then. thats still like 25 million hours

[seriousam7 @ Feb 5th 2009 3:55AM]

and they could have used seconds...

[j.d.ripper @ Feb 5th 2009 4:37AM]

Number of videos would have been more practical, and perhaps how many of those were movies.

[seriousam7 @ Feb 5th 2009 4:54AM]

yea seriously. if you do the math, thats still only like one movie watched per customer, on average

[dnl2ba @ Feb 5th 2009 5:09AM]

What about when someone only watches 50% of something, or 5%? Should watching four 30-minute episodes count as four times as much usage as watching a single two-hour movie? Duration viewed is the best single-unit metric for figuring out how much the service is actually being used.

[Mark @ Feb 5th 2009 2:08PM]

@seriousam7
uh... no, that's more than 10 per customer. "1.5 billion minutes of TV and movies through their consoles" = 25 million hours on consoles. 1 million customers on 360, probably somewhere around 300 000 on PS3, that's about 20 hours/person. that's 10 movies give or take. congratulations: you fail.

[seriousam7 @ Feb 5th 2009 3:00PM]

oh wow, i did fail. big time. thats like 25 hours per person. makes sense i guess because my family has used well over that amount already...dang, how could i be so bad at math. oh well, it was really late at night.

[elBravo @ Feb 5th 2009 3:58PM]

1.5 billion minutes
25 million hours
1.04 million days
77,400 fortnights
2,861 years
74.4 billion microfortnights
5.4 trillion jiffies

[Mike @ Feb 6th 2009 2:30PM]

2.03713487×10-7 th of the Age of the Universe

Now THATS impressive

[David S @ Feb 5th 2009 5:52AM]

That's a lot of stereo.

Netflix, it'll be great to give people 5.1 sound, your customers would appreciate it.

[rita hainsworth @ Feb 5th 2009 5:59AM]

Mmm, i dont know. I signed up for the service and canceled it soon after. I really dont need to be streaming 10 year old movies just so i can say Im doing it.

[zephxiii @ Feb 5th 2009 7:08AM]

I didn't realize that movies weren't any good if they were even remotely old.

[Sporkinum @ Feb 5th 2009 7:49AM]

Or maybe you were like me, and did a 30 day trial of gold, Downloaded it just for the hell of it, and then promptly deleted it. Then you didn't use gold either, because there was no reason for it.

On the other hand, I did pay for registering PlayOn. That works great for watching stuff on Hulu through the XBox. It supposedly supports Netflix, without needing Gold, but I don't have Netflix, so I have no idea how well it works for that.

[Why should I have all the fun? @ Feb 5th 2009 9:00AM]

Yes, Playon works flawlessly for streaming Netflix and Hulu to my PS3. I was about to spring for an Xbox arcade just for this feature (and a few games not on PS3 that interest me). It works with all Netflix memberships (but the basic limits you to 2 hours per month). Now if Netflix will add their entire DVD inventory to the stream . . .

[Proud Japanese @ Feb 5th 2009 6:23AM]

Microsoft sucks.

Why do people buy their hardware?

[smash579 @ Mar 10th 2009 2:35PM]

and what are you, an MS troll bait?

[greent44 @ Feb 5th 2009 5:35PM]

troll spotted

[dimo @ Feb 5th 2009 7:04AM]

Because clearly most don't agree with your stupid statement that has no merit!

[Bret J Miller @ Feb 5th 2009 7:12AM]

We also canceled, they need to offer more titles and better quality, some of the movies were OK, some were pretty poor video quality, This is a very cool service and did not take long for the movies to get into the xbox menu from the website que, but having already invested in a nice home theater, I don't mind ripping my DVDs to my 4TB Home Server and streaming higher quality vob files to the xbox, still working on getting 5.1 working though. Will be keeping my eyes open to Netflix offering more newer movies, in better quality and would be glad to sign back up...

[mattworldwide @ Feb 5th 2009 7:47AM]

Can you search out instant streaming movies on Netflix? I've only been able to browse movies so far and not search out specific titles.

[jupiterthunder @ Feb 7th 2009 12:46PM]

try this....

http://netflix.softworksdevelopment.com/

Haven't tried it myself.

[JazzyJay @ Feb 5th 2009 8:40AM]

This is all great stuff to hear about. Netflix sounds like a really good service, but how can i access this using my xbox360 in the UK? I cannot work out how to get netflix installed onto it. I understand i have to register online with netflix using the internet first, but then what then has to be done on the 360? :/ I would really like to use the service.

[JBDragon @ Feb 5th 2009 10:40PM]

You can't, Netflix is a U.S. based company, and as such you have to be in the U.S. to use it!!! You CAN use PlayON and watch CBS programs and HULU and whatnot from the 360 all for FREE, but you have to be smart enough to setup your PC to FOOL your Location so these places think your really in the U.S. and then you can stream the content onto your PC where it then gets passed to the 360/PS3 to watch on your TV.

[stephen @ Feb 5th 2009 9:39AM]

I cancelled too. The selection was crap. Good concept though.

[Jamus @ Feb 5th 2009 9:26AM]

And 1 million heat sinks fried due to that it being hot enough for me to fry an egg on when I watch anything over 20 min.

[MemphisNET @ Feb 5th 2009 9:48AM]

Great! Now please bring it to Canada.

[xeon @ Feb 5th 2009 9:50AM]

I cancelled as well... when they get the entire collection of Battlestar Galactica on there I'll sign up again... but until that time, I'll stick with Redbox rentals.

[Davej @ Feb 5th 2009 10:06AM]

I also downloaded, signed up and then canceled. The instant watch catalog is horrible. These are B movies from years ago. Very little that's been out in the past year. My 9 year old looked at the Children's movies and decided to do homework instead!

[Richard Lawler @ Feb 5th 2009 10:07AM]

You may not be aware of this, but with the same instant watch subscription, you can also get the new movies on this disc called "DVD". It's a new thing netflix is testing.

[hexydes @ Feb 5th 2009 11:02AM]

Your statement is completely false. First, Netflix keeps adding more and more titles, so depending on when you last checked, there could be many more movies available. And second, there are plenty of newer movies available, some released on DVD as recently as six months ago. I just finished watching "21" and "30 Days of Night".

[Robb @ Feb 5th 2009 11:08AM]

And will this "DVD" as you call it, be available instantly?

[smash579 @ Mar 10th 2009 2:34PM]

i wonder if there is any metric for closed memberships from the same move?

i canceled my netflix account after waiting in vain for it to become available on PS3, only to see it be the only device excluded.

Sadder thing is, i'm not renting through ps3 either (absurdly expensive prices)
now i just watch things for free on hulu and joost through PS3.

[Iridium @ Feb 5th 2009 10:40AM]

A great deal of the Netflix X360 subscribers are probably in college. Outside of that arena the streaming movies through the internet doesn't work too good. Unless you pay through the nose for a fast internet connection.

With thousands of people sharing the same cable internet in my city along with 35 or so wireless routers in range, my internet connection is lucky to give me speeds of 250kbps during peak times.

So for me and a great number of people the internet will never be fast enough to make a service like this worth the price.

[hexydes @ Feb 5th 2009 11:04AM]

I've been out of college for six years now, live in a house, have a cable connection (that tops at 600KBps, bytes, not bits), and I use Netflix streaming all the time. It works fantastically, most movies are done downloading in about 15 minutes (I use the Windows Sidebar to see when the net connectivity drops to zero, it maxes my connection out until it's done). I like it so much, I bought my parents a Roku Netflix player so that they could use it too.

[crescentdavid @ Feb 5th 2009 11:55AM]

The netflix mix of blu-ray, dvd's and streaming movies works great for me. I like having choices. Content is being added all the time and anyone who says the movies are all "b" grade or 10 years old clearly hasn't been looking very hard. We do netflix with our samsung blu-ray and are satisfied with the quality given the load capabilities of our internet connection and the state of the art. And it doesn't cost one penny more than the subscription price we've already been paying for the last few years. Hey ... choice is a good thing.