Netflix continues to be the most successful streaming service out there. In the company's third quarter, it beat out analysts' predictions gaining a total of 5.3 million new subscribers worldwide. The competition continues to get tougher as companies like Hulu and HBO attempt to overtake Netflix, but its successful production of original series is helping immensely.

Growing customer base

With cable television slowly dying out, streaming is becoming the main way people watch TV. Netflix is the original and most popular option available, but competition has increased.

The streaming service lost rights to many of its popular shows and Movies during the past few years but has made up for the losses by producing its own content.

Shows like "Stranger Things," "Orange is the New Black," and "House of Cards" are some of the most popular series offered by Netflix. Competitors like Hulu have attempted to make their original content, but they can't compete with the success of Netflix's original content.

In the coming years, things will only get tougher for the streaming service. According to Variety, Disney announced that in 2019 it would pull its titles from Netflix to create its streaming platform. The announcement originally scared investors, but the company's stock prices have only continued to reach new peaks.

Outdoing predictions

CNBC says that analysts predicted about 4.5 million new subscribers during the third quarter, which Netflix outdid by instead adding 5.3 million customers to its client base. With the company's confidence at an all-time high, they announced that the budget for new content had been increased to $7 to $8 billion for next year.

Earlier this month, Netflix announced that it would raise its monthly subscription prices. The standard plan has increased to $10.99 which is still cheaper than competitor Hulu's commercial-free plan for $11.99 per month. Although the company is bound to lose some subscribers with the price increase, investors aren't too worried.

Its third-quarter success means great things for the final quarter of 2017. It has plenty of titles stacked up for the last few months of the year including a new season of its hit show "Stranger Things."

Netflix shows no signs of slowing down. Its stock prices continue to peak and are expected to hit $225 per share by the end of next year. Its customer base is also expected to grow to at least 176 million users by 2020.
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