The Biggest Surprise From Netflix's Earnings

Netflix reported earnings for the fourth quarter of 2014 on Tuesday - and for the first time, Netflix added more subscribers internationally year-over-year than in the US.

Based on company data charted for us by BI Intelligence, Netflix reached more than 57 million total subscribers in the fourth quarter, but while its domestic customer base rose 17% year-over-year to reach 39 million customers during that time, its international subscriber base grew a whopping 67% year-over-year to top 18 million customers.

This is huge for Netflix, which is only in 50 countries but wants to be in more than 200 in the next few years. According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, international growth "allows us to develop and license more content for our members and improve our service," as well as expand the company's influence as a licensor and distributor of global content. So as scale kicks in, profit should be pretty easy for Netflix to achieve on a predictable and steady basis.