Segment Information (Information on Reportable Segments and Reconciliation to Consolidated Net Income) (Details) subscription in Thousands, $ in Thousands		3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
		Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) subscription	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) subscription	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) subscription	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) subscription	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) subscription
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total members at end of period | subscription	[1]	0				0				0	0	0
Revenues		$ 2,477,541	$ 2,290,188	$ 2,105,204	$ 1,957,736	$ 1,823,333	$ 1,738,355	$ 1,644,694	$ 1,573,129	$ 8,830,669	$ 6,779,511	$ 5,504,656
Cost of revenues										6,029,901	4,591,476	3,752,760
Marketing										991,078	824,092	607,186
Contribution profit (loss)										1,809,690	1,363,943	1,144,710
Other operating expenses										1,429,897	1,058,117	742,062
Operating income										379,793	305,826	402,648
Other income (expense)										(119,286)	(163,941)	(53,279)
Provision for income taxes										73,829	19,244	82,570
Net income		$ 66,748	$ 51,517	$ 40,755	$ 27,658	$ 43,178	$ 29,432	$ 26,335	$ 23,696	186,678	122,641	266,799
Amortization of content assets										$ 4,867,450	$ 3,484,762	$ 2,727,770
Domestic Streaming [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total members at end of period | subscription	[1]	49,431				44,738				49,431	44,738	39,114
Revenues										$ 5,077,307	$ 4,180,339	$ 3,431,434
Cost of revenues										2,855,789	2,487,193	2,201,761
Marketing										382,832	317,646	293,453
Contribution profit (loss)										1,838,686	1,375,500	936,220
Amortization of content assets										$ 2,337,950	$ 1,905,069	$ 1,657,673
International Streaming [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total members at end of period | subscription	[1]	44,365				30,024				44,365	30,024	18,277
Revenues										$ 3,211,095	$ 1,953,435	$ 1,308,061
Cost of revenues										2,911,370	1,780,375	1,154,117
Marketing										608,246	506,446	313,733
Contribution profit (loss)										(308,521)	(333,386)	(159,789)
Amortization of content assets										$ 2,450,548	$ 1,500,313	$ 998,606
Domestic DVD [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total members at end of period | subscription	[1]	4,114				4,904				4,114	4,904	5,767
Revenues										$ 542,267	$ 645,737	$ 765,161
Cost of revenues										262,742	323,908	396,882
Marketing										0	0	0
Contribution profit (loss)										279,525	321,829	368,279
Amortization of content assets										$ 78,952	$ 79,380	$ 71,491

[1] (1)A membership (also referred to as a subscription or a member) is defined as the right to receive the Netflix service following sign-up and a method of payment being provided. Memberships are assigned to territories based on the geographic location used at time of sign-up as determined by our internal systems, which utilize industry standard geo-location technology. We offer free-trial memberships to new and certain rejoining members. Total members include those who are on a free-trial as long as a method of payment has been provided. A membership is canceled and ceases to be reflected in the above metrics as of the effective cancellation date. Voluntary cancellations become effective at the end of the prepaid membership period, while involuntary cancellation of the service, as a result of a failed method of payment, becomes effective immediately except in limited circumstances where a short grace period is offered to ensure the streaming service is not interrupted for members who are impacted by payment processing delays by our banks or integrated payment partners. The number of members in a grace period at any given point is not material.