Netflix now has 104 million subscribers worldwide

Netflix series 13 Reasons Why came in for criticism over its depiction of suicide but was highly popular with teens

Netflix shares surged on Monday after the video streaming firm said it had about 104 million subscribers.

The US company said the better-than-expected number was a sign that investment in new shows and movies was paying off.

Netflix has produced shows such as 13 Reasons Why, about teen suicide, political drama House of Cards and The Crown.

Boss Reed Hastings said it was "the rewards of doing great content".

Netflix shares rose more than 10% in after-hours trading in New York after announcing its second-quarter results.

The firm said it added about 5.2 million members during the quarter, mostly from overseas. International members now account for about half of its subscriber total.

Netflix has cultivated those audiences with movies such as Okja, a film made by one of South Korea's top directors about a young girl's quest to recover a giant companion from a multi-national corporation.

The company also said it expected international members to help boost profits for the year - a first for that part of the business.

The growth helped Netflix to report a 32% rise in second quarter revenues to $2.8bn, and it expects revenues to reach nearly $3bn in the third quarter.

Profits for the three months to June were $65.6m, up about 60% compared with the same period last year.

Creating new content was critical to competing against other online rivals such as Amazon and YouTube, as well as broadcast television networks, Netflix said.

Netflix said generating new content also meant streaming services were expanding the size of the overall market.

"The largely exclusive nature of each service's content means that we are not direct substitutes for each other, but rather complements," it told shareholders.

"The shift from linear TV to on-demand viewing is so big and there is so much leisure time, many internet TV services will be successful."