• PaidContent, Friday, November 12, 2010 1:56 PM

By the end of the third quarter, the number of Netflix subscribers who had sampled streaming online video grew from 40% to 66% year-over-year. But, what does that equate to in terms of revenue? No one knows, because Netflix doesn't differentiate (at least publically) between digital and physical movie rentals. Overall, according to research firm Screen Digest, Netflix revenues for 2010 will be $2.2 billion, projects -- "roughly equal to the amount the entire U.S. retail rental business will muster for the year," paidContent notes.

Netflix's snail-mail business will account for 35% of disc-rental spending in the U.S. this year -- up from 26% in 2009 -- according to Screen Digest. Not surprisingly, spending on the entire disc-rental business is down 4.3% from 2009, to $6.2 billion. As paidContent points out, "That number has been steadily dropping since hitting its high of $8.5 billion in 2001." However, by 2014, Screen Digest is projecting that the disc rental business will actually grow to $7.4 billion. How? Again, because Netflix doesn't publicly separate its physical and digital disc businesses.

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