SAN FRANCISCO — Look out, HBO. Last year, Netflix produced more original programming than cable’s premium-network leader, according to numbers from both companies. The Internet video service isn’t slowing down either, even if means risking subscribers with price increases needed to help pay for more exclusive TV shows and movies.
Since its push into exclusive shows kicked off in earnest with the 2013 debut of “House of Cards,” Netflix has hit the fast-forward button. Last year, it put out 450 hours of original programming, compared to 401 from Time Warner’s HBO. This year, both companies say they expect to release roughly 600 hours of original material.
Netflix is aiming to put itself into “an entirely different and supreme league” from its rivals, says Tom Numan, a former TV network and studio executive who now lectures at UCLA’s graduate school of theater, film and television. In effect, the company is aiming to become the first global network for original shows and movies.
Amazon.com, Hulu and other services are scrambling to catch up with original programming. Its original slate is only a quarter the size of Netflix’s, but Amazon.com can boast that its shows won more Emmys last year than its rival.
Netflix is counting on a vast library of original programming to help keep subscribers on board as it meets new competition. Amazon, for instance, just started offering its streaming-video service for $9 a month ; previously, you had to sign up for the company’s $100-a-year Prime service, which includes free shipping from its e-commerce site and other goodies.
Amazon is undercutting Netflix’s $10 monthly price for its most popular video-streaming plan, as is Hulu, which charges $8. HBO charges $15 per month for a video-streaming service it launched last year.
Netflix will test the loyalty of its long-time subscribers next month when it hikes their prices 25 percent, following a two-year freeze that kept rates at $8 per month. The increase will hit 17 million to 22 million U.S. subscribers.
There’s a worrisome history here. In 2011, subscribers fled when Netflix split off its DVD-by-mail operation from its burgeoning streaming business, a shift that hiked prices as much as 60 percent for some subscribers.
Netflix lost 3 percent of its U.S. subscribers at the time. A similar reaction to next month’s price increase might cost it 510,000 to 660,000 subscribers.
Analysts think a repeat is unlikely. “I don’t think you are going to see a lot of people bailing out and running for the exits,” said Rosenblatt Securities analyst Martin Pyykkonen — largely because Netflix now has so many shows you can’t find anywhere else.
In a recent online survey of 2,500 U.S. adults conducted by Morgan Stanley, 45 percent cited it as a reason to subscribe to Netflix.
