It’s not really news that Netflix is spending a whole lot of money on their original programming. They’ve been doing so for years now, ever since they hit it big with House of Cards. In the time since then, they have evolved, going on to be one of the biggest overall “studios” out there, splitting their efforts between both TV and film (not to mention other enterprises like comic book publishing and more interactive projects).

But how much are they ultimately spending this year alone? According to The Economist, Netflix is set to spend between $12bn to $13bn in 2018 alone, which is more than any other studio spends on their non-sports content (apparently sports stuff is pretty popular, I guess).

RELATED – Netflix Testing Out ‘Ultra’ Subscription Plan

In addition to their 700 new or exclusively licensed TV shows, they will also be putting out 82 films, which is much more than any studio as well. Warner Bros., the one with the biggest 2018 slate will have put out 23 films, by comparison. Of course, this is sort of a skewed stat, as the movies Warner Bros. is putting out are much bigger than most of Netflix’s fare, which tends to skew more towards low and mid-budget.

Regardless, this is still quite the achievement given just how new Netflix is to the whole production game, and while some may say they’re a bit out of their depth in the whole filmmaking department, the reality is they needed to ensure their user base wouldn’t abandon them as the major studios moved to their own streaming platforms.

What do you think about Netflix spending so much last year? Let us know your thoughts down below!

Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page.

SOURCE: The Economist