Why Netflix's catalog is set to explode in size (NFLX)

MYLES ARONOWITZ/NETFLIX

Netflix has supercharged its production of original shows and movies this year, and will produce a staggering 600 hours of original content.

This move by Netflix to keep pumping more and more money into originals will drastically change what Netflix's catalog looks like in the future, in two particular ways. The first is obvious: There will be more original content. But the second is that Netflix's catalog will explode in size, according to analysts at UBS.

This actually runs counter to recent trends in Netflix catalog size.

In March, we reported that Netflix's catalog had shrunk by 32% since 2014, as the company trimmed non-exclusive titles in favor of both originals and exclusive licensing deals. The decision to favor these kinds of deals temporarily caused Netflix's number of titles to go down. But now, that is primed to turn around as Netflix has been steadily building a strong back catalog of originals.

Here is a chart from UBS that puts it into perspective:

MYLES ARONOWITZ/NETFLIX

Here you can see how the number of hours of original content available to watch will increase substantially in the next few years. UBS estimates that Netflix's spending on licensed content will remain roughly the same moving forward, so that means Netflix's overall catalog hours will likely increase.

Here's a chart that shows that:

MYLES ARONOWITZ/NETFLIX

Here's one last chart, which shows how staggering the amount of original content Netflix will produce will likely be:

MYLES ARONOWITZ/NETFLIX

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