Netflix boss Reed Hastings excited by new rivals Disney Plus as they continue expansion

Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings has claimed he is looking forward to the challenge prosed by Disney, who are launching their own online streaming service.

The new service, Disney Plus, will go head to head with Netflix and Amazon Prime when it launches late next year. 

Hastings has admitted that Disney are a "formidable" company in the wake of their record results on Thursday, but he told the BBC that it will push Netflix to become even better. 

"We've been competing with Amazon for more than 10 years, so we're used to healthy, strong competition. It makes us better," he said. 

"They've got so much content like Star Wars and Marvel, they'll be a great competitor. And that'll push us to do the best work of our lives."

Netflix have seen extreme growth in the number of subscribers they have in recent years. They saw seven million new people join from July to September, taking their total to over 137m.

During the same period, the company had a negative cash flow of $690m, with some criticising the amount of debt they have accumulated as they continually invest in new productions.

"We're continuing to expand throughout the world and we are investing in content ahead of our revenue," Hastings added.

"And what that does is attract new subscribers, which is why in the stock market we are up over 1,000% in the last five years, because that investment has been so successful."

Netflix are now increasingly targetting Asia and on Thursday announced plans for 17 made-in-Asia programmes to be released next year.