Pachter: Netflix users to increase by 3M this year

Analyst Michael Pachter has said that thanks to consoles offering Netflix, the service could garner an extra 3 million users this year.

Currently available on all three home consoles,  Pachter said that 300-400K new subscribers a year could be welcomed into the digital film fold with a 5-10 percent conversion rate, resulting in 3 million new users by the end of 2010.

"We believe that the Xbox 360 helped Netflix add 800,000 customers in 2009, a figure that we had expected the PS3 and Wii to each replicate in 2010," Pachter said.

"In our opinion, Netflix on the Wii will not be as popular as it is on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 for two main reasons: the lack of HD on the Wii, and the limited number of Wii users connected to the Internet.

"Further, the Wii audience has demonstrated little commitment to buying videogames (attach rates are at historical console lows), leading us to suspect that many Wiis are relegated to the playroom or (heaven forbid) the closet".

Netflix has reported that first quarter subscribers for the year reached 1.7 million, bringing total users of the service to 14 million.

Wii started shipping discs for the service last month, and Xbox 360 users first got the service in late 2008, and Sony followed suit last fall.

Via Gamasutra.