Netflix's original programming is blowing away its competition in the eyes of consumers, but the subscriber count for HBO's streaming service is surging, according to new research from Morgan Stanley and Alphawise.
Netflix will spend an estimated $8 billion on content this year. An increasing percentage of those funds will go toward the production of original shows and movies (with more than 1,000 originals projected this year), as Netflix moves away from licensing content from studios like Disney, which plans to introduce a Netflix competitor in 2019.
And Netflix's massive investment in its "Netflix Originals" appears to be increasingly paying off, as favorability for the service's original programming has grown in each year of Morgan Stanley's annual survey.
In the firm's 2018 survey, 39% of respondents said Netflix had the "best original programming" among all subscription services, a 6-point rise from 33% last year.
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Netflix's figure more than doubled that of HBO, which came in second place this year with support from 14% of respondents, roughly the same figure it posted in 2017. Amazon Prime (5%), Hulu (4%), Showtime (3%), and Starz (2%) followed. Thirty-two percent of survey respondents answered "Don't know," while Cinemax, Encore, Epix, and "Other" rounded out the survey with 1% or less each.
Morgan Stanley wrote that the second season of Netflix's "Stranger Things," released in October, was most likely the "largest driver" of Netflix's increase in favorability for this year's survey.
Jenny Cheng/Business Insider
The firm also projects a rapid expansion in the reach of HBO's premium streaming service, HBO Now, which is expected to build on its lead among so-called over-the-top services from traditional media outlets.
By the end of the year, HBO Now is projected to reach 7 million US subscribers — more than double the 3.1 million subscribers that Showtime and CBS All Access are projected to reach in 2018.
Jenny Cheng/Business Insider
Overall, HBO's cable and premium subscriptions reached nearly 38 million US subscribers at the end of 2017, while Netflix reached nearly 53 million domestic subscribers, according to Morgan Stanley.
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But it's not an "either/or" situation for the two entertainment giants. Morgan Stanley found that 53% of Netflix subscribers in 2018 were also subscribed to at least one premium network, with many holding an HBO subscription.
HBO Now's rapid growth in 2017 led a massive increase in OTT premium subscribers across all providers. Total OTT premium subscribers hit 10 million last year, which more than doubled 2016's year-end count.
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