Netflix plans to increase original content by 20 shows in the next year.
Netflix has been slowly releasing original content in recent years. The company has been doing it to rave reviews. They have stated that their long-term goal is to have half of the streamable content be comprised of original material. The goal is 1,000 new hours of content each year developed by Netflix. The first year for this will be 2017.
For comparison, Netflix offered 600 hours of self-produced content in 2016 and 450 in 2015. As you can see, the increase in incremental, but the increments are aggressive. They plan to spend $6 billion on original programming next year.
There are a few reasons they are planning on doing this. The first is competition. Streaming entertainment companies are getting more competitive. Netflix used to stand out from Hulu and other similar services in their offerings. This is not true anymore. They believe by increasing their own content they will distance themselves from these other companies.
It will also make licensing easier. The cost of licensing will be reduced. They don't have to license Netflix Original Content. Each program is designed to entertain a certain group. By attracting niche viewers, they will increase their market share.
There are 30 different series and movies being developed currently. Netflix is not afraid to change things up. It is interesting to see where they go from here. Some say they will move into unscripted programming.
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