Glued to her computer screen, her eyes glossed over. She reaches for her bowl of cheesy puffs as the next episode begins to play. She is 9 episodes in, with 12 left to go. Nothing can break her concentration as she continues to binge watch what is now her new favorite series on the streaming service, Netflix. She is one person that symbolizes millions when it comes to describing the popular media trend that has sparked all over the world.

Since its launch in 1997, the streaming giant Netflix continues to change the way movies and TV shows are viewed. For a monthly subscription of $8.99, Netflix subscribers have access to thousands of movies and television series.

Netflix has come up with a formula for success with their ability to see what content their subscribers are streaming and enjoying the most based on a rating scale of one to five stars. Looking at that data, Netflix can see what shows and movies are most popular with its subscribers. They can then continue to add similar series and content that will keep their subscribers happy. As if all of this was not enough, in 2011, Netflix changed the game again by starting to stream their own original content such as series, documentaries and movies.

Taking the idea of the five star ratings into consideration, Netflix began to develop their own original content based on what their viewers wanted. As a result, the streaming services popularity has continued to rise and now has over 50 million monthly subscribers as of January 2015. Netflix owes its recent spike in popularity to its rising amount of original series. Currently two of their most popular original series are “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black.”

With all the buzz about these shows, one begins to wonder just what is so special about Netflix’s original content. Launching with one of the first batches of original content, “House of Cards” is a political drama that stars Kevin Spacey as South Carolina congressmen Frank Underwood. Bitter after being played by the new president of the free world, who promised Underwood the position of secretary of state, but then once elected, gave the position to someone else; Underwood hatches a plan to get revenge. Underwood is scheming, conniving and manipulative; making him a very powerful force in Washington.

“I like that the plot is focused. Sometimes as TV shows go, there will be several plots happening at once,” said JSC student Sam Kilbride, “this show seems like there will be fewer plots with better development.”

The series received great feedback from subscribers and earned itself a total of 22 Emmy nominations and three nominations at the Golden Globe Awards since its initial launch in 2013. “House of Cards” made history by being the first online web television series to get Emmy nominations. Due to the success of the series, a third season will be added to Netflix in late February 2015.

“Orange is the New Black,” which stars Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman, has made its mark on Netflix by bringing in more viewers in its opening week than any other original series

“Orange is the New Black” tells the story of Chapman, who is sentenced to a year in a women’s prison for a crime she committed 10 years prior to her sentence. Chapman, being what you might call a privileged white girl, is submerged into an extremely diverse women’s prison which opens her eyes to extensive cultural issues. Chapman’s time in the prison helps her to become more tolerant and accepting toward differences in people. “Orange is the New Black” has received great reviews and won several awards including the award for Favorite Streaming Series at the 40th People’s Choice Awards.

“I like that its content is controversial,” said JSC student Anna Hughes, “it’s kind of cool because you don’t normally see those kind of things on TV.” Fan popularity and demand has resulted in the series being renewed for a third season that will begin to stream on Netflix in June 2015.

As Netflix continues to grow its number of subscribers, many wonder what the streaming giant will roll out next. The Netflix website indicated they have big surprises in store for viewers in 2015. Due to the success and popularity of their original programming such as “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black,” Netflix plans to launch 20 new and original series throughout the 2015 year. Netflix CEO’s believe that increasing the amount of original content will in return increase the amount of subscribers and maintain strong user loyalty.

Some of the confirmed Netflix original series set to stream in 2015 are, “The Adventures of Puss in Boots,” a spin off animation from the Shrek series; “Daredevil,” a series that follows a blind Crime fighter; “Bloodline,” a family thriller drama starring Kyle Chandler from “Friday Night Lights”; and “Grace and Frankie,” a sitcom that stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. For a complete list of announced series and streaming release dates you can check out Netflixmediacenter.com.