In a research note released to press and investors, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter estimated that some 500,000 Xbox Live Gold members have activated the Netflix functionality during the last three months.

The analyst did note that some of the half million new activations were likely already Netflix subscribers before they were Xbox Live Gold members. Pachter sees that trend continuing later in the year, when Microsoft and Netflix roll out the ability for users add movies and TV shows to stream directly on their Xbox 360.

“Microsoft announced at the E3 Expo on June 1 that its Xbox Live dashboard would provide access directly to the Netflix website, and that Xbox Live Gold members would be able to manage their Netflix Watch Instantly queues through the dashboard,” Pachter said. “We think that this feature will make the Netflix service even more appealing to Xbox Live members, and expect an acceleration of activations [both Xbox Live Gold and Netflix] over the last two quarters.”

I’m personally excited to have the ability to add new movie and TV from my Xbox 360, rather than going through the Netflix website. I actually haven’t been taking advantage of my Netflix subscription recently because of it — cal me lazy, but it was too much of a hassle.