Britain’s long wait is over, as Netflix enters the UK online video streaming market today. The company is on a positive streak following the report on a record-breaking 2 billion hours of streaming of their avid customers around the globe for the last quarter of 2011.

The explosion of Netflix usage has attracted investors, as evident by the gains in their shares in the stock market amidst continuous US economy collapse. Now, the business has spread its wings in the European continent and landed in the UK and Ireland. But, they will be facing some tough competitions there.

Despite strong rivalries with home-bred Sky Movies, Sky Atlantic and Lovefilm, Reed Hastings showed no signs of retaliation as they enter the UK market: “Relative to each of our competitors we have different differentiators, but Netflix is a very focused on streaming and we do it really well.”

As for Lovefilm, he added: “We have more content than Lovefilm…Lovefilm is mostly DVD by post… and we’re both really competing with Sky.”

In fact, the online video streaming giant feels that there is going to be a subscribers’ revolt in the UK with their entrée. Their prime weapon is their content. They are also holding on to the access-anywhere and unlimited streaming features. Customers can access Netflix via Internet TV, gaming consoles and Apple products and Android mobile phones.

Neil Hunt, Netflix’ Chief Product Officer flaunts and supports this access-anywhere advantage: “We have spent the last four years building and refining streaming players for the major game consoles, smart TVs, Blu-ray players, tablets, and mobile phones, as well as Mac and PC-based computers. We have honed and refined the apps based upon our experience in the Canadian, US, and Latin American markets. The current versions have some cool streaming technology that starts streaming the video instantly and quickly scales up to high definition with surround sound when your broadband connection supports it.”

While Netflix is still on a seesaw from the previous year’s updates and upgrades, the online video streaming industry is growing at a record pace. Several neophytes have been lured to the battlegrounds, testing their luck in this emerging industry. An independent Hollywood movie retailer, Film Fresh has relaunched its platform to offer more titles on its electronic sell-through (EST) and video on demand (VOD). At CES, Shodogg has announced its radical transformation of video streaming delivery by triggering expansion of content providers.

Updates from the familiar front, including YouTube, and the rise of Internet TVs are also indications that the demand in online video streaming is mounting, and becoming more personal.  The potential for this market is spreading across all other industries like mobility and social networking, leveraging consumer demands for cloud services and connected devices.