Netflix adds 3.1M subscribers in 4Q

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix Inc.'s video subscription service topped 20 million customers during the fourth quarter to help push its earnings beyond analyst expectations and burnish its reputation as a stock-market star. Its shares surged 10 percent on the news.

The results announced Wednesday are the latest evidence of Netflix's increasingly important role in the distribution of home and mobile entertainment.

As Netflix's influence has risen, so has its stock price. The shares tripled last year to give Netflix a market value of nearly $10 billion — more than some of the studios that supply the content for its DVD-by-mail and Internet video streaming service.

The lofty valuation has intensified the pressure on Netflix to keep attracting subscribers at a rapid pace.

Netflix delivered in the fourth quarter by reeling in 3.1 million subscribers, by far the most during any three-month period since its service launched in 1999. The performance also exceeded the most optimistic predictions of its own management.