Netflix's game plan is changing. With competition from Hulu and Amazon Prime putting the heat on Netflix, the best-known streaming service in the market has lost its monopoly on content and subscribers. In response, we've seen Netflix shrink its U.S. catalog, boost its international offerings, and focus on original programming. The company has also moved to crack down on VPNs, which help users (illegally) access Netflix catalogs from other countries. Things are changing fast for Netflix – but what do its subscribers think of the shifts?

We've spent the past few days breaking down the results of a big survey put together by our friends over at AllFlicks. AllFlicks polled 3,000 Netflix subscribers, pulling their sample from visitors to AllFlicks and Reddit's /r/netflix. So far, we've found some very interesting results that parallel Netflix's recent moves. Respondents hate Netflix's VPN rules, but they still think Netflix can replace cable. A plurality of U.S. respondents felt that the quality of Netflix's catalog is in decline.

That last result is perhaps the most compelling. Netflix has lost quality content to its competitors, and the playing field is getting more level every day. We know that Netflix is trying to combat this by generating more original content, though – so what do the survey results say about Netflix's efforts?

Netflix Originals Have a Solid Fan Base – And That Base Is Growing

In the past, we've found that Netflix subscribers give original series better ratings than they give to non-original content. But our last article on AllFlicks' poll results offered a skeptical interpretation of this data. Knowing that viewers feel Netflix's catalog is in decline made us wonder if Netflix originals really were really an improvement on traditional content – or if the traditional content on Netflix was simply getting worse while the original series stayed the same. It's probably a mix of both, but the AllFlicks survey does show some results that will be fairly encouraging to Netflix.

AllFlicks asked respondents if they would say that they “are a Netflix subscriber mainly because of Netflix's original content.” Most subscribers did not identify themselves this way, but a significant minority did. According to the poll, 17.1% of subscribers are drawn to Netflix “mainly” by original series.

That's not a bad chunk of subscribers, especially considering the phrasing of the question, which implicitly pits Netflix's original content against its non-original offerings rather than, for instance, against Amazon's original content, or Hulu's. But the really interesting thing to see is that Netflix's newer fans are more likely to be buying in on their original series push.

Longtime subscribers – those who have been with the service for two years or more – are far less likely to say they're choosing Netflix based on original series than new subscribers are. Veteran subscribers broke for original series at a rate of 13.7%. For subscribers of 1-2 years, the number jumped to 19.8%. For the 0-1 year bracket, it was 26.2% – more than a quarter of all users.

This suggests that Netflix's original series growth is mirrored by growing consumer interest. The newer subscribers – who likely skew younger – are willing to accept Netflix as a content creator, not just a content aggregator. And the originals and exclusives excite them much more than they excite subscribers who have had Netflix for a long time.