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At the beginning of 2017, 70 percent of consumers with an online video or music subscription confirmed that they had an active Netflix subscription at the time of survey. Millennials and Gen-Xers were more likely to have a Netflix subscription than their older peers, which comes as no surprise given that Netflix is considered the most indispensable TV and video source among consumers aged between 16 to 34 years old. One of the most appealing aspects of Netflix for viewers is the availability of original content, which has fast become one of the keys to the company’s success.

Netflix and original content

Netflix is the leading video subscription service in the United States with more than double the number of subscribers of competitors Hulu and Amazon, and also boasts a far larger catalogue of original content. This new trend of creating original shows and movies does not come cheap – Netflix’s video content budget grew five times in as many years and is predicted to increase even more in the future. In 2018, the company’s content budget amounted to a cool 12 billion U.S. dollars, over three billion more than in the previous year.

Whilst reviews of Netflix’s original shows can be mixed, the platform is now known for several wildly popular titles including ‘Orange is the New Black’, ‘Stranger Things’, ‘House of Cards’ and ‘The Crown’. Moreover, during the same five year period in which Netflix ramped up its content spend, its original content titles won and were nominated for several Golden Globe awards, Emmys and even Oscars – a huge achievement for a company with its origins in the DVD-by-mail market.

Netflix is not showing any signs of slowing its original content production down. A brief Google search reveals multiple articles detailing extensive release schedules and upcoming titles for viewers to get excited about, and it looks like the company’s millions of subscribers will have many more original titles to look forward to, binge watch and tweet about in years to come.