By 2011, over 25 million people were subscribing to Netflix, more than three times the subscribers the service had in 2008. As online video streaming exploded in popularity, Netflix was facing rising costs from studios, who demanded more money in their licensing deals to stream their content. In response, the streaming service announced plans to begin producing its own content, seeking to break its reliance on outside studios for films and television series. It didn't take long for original Netflix content to make an impact. In 2013, the celebrated House of Cards was the first original series to premiere on the service. In 2015, the very first Netflix Original Film, Beasts of No Nation, made its debut and marked the beginning of a major shift in strategy for content.