Britain and Ireland tuning into Netflix

California-based Netflix boasted that it was the fastest adoption rate it has seen in any territory, outpacing by several times the speed with which it took Twitter or Facebook to hit that user mark globally.

"This membership milestone is evidence that Netflix has rapidly gained popularity in (Britain) and Ireland," said Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings.

"Our British and Irish members clearly enjoy the ability to instantly watch a large variety of TV shows and films streaming from Netflix on their favorite devices whenever they want."

Comedy and drama were reported to be the most popular genres among Netflix viewers in Britain and Ireland, with Sunday nights proving the most popular time of the week for tuning in.

A survey commissioned by Netflix indicated that 10 percent of the British population devotes two or more hours daily watching TV shows delivered through the Internet.

"Consumers are beginning to spend more time enjoying entertainment services online, streaming TV and film, and this trend is only growing," Pollyanna Woodward of British technology television program The Gadget Show said in a Netflix release.

Netflix last week last week revealed plans to launch film streaming services in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden by the end of the year.

Netflix was launched in the United States in 1999 and has expanded to Britain, Canada and Latin America over the past two years.