Netflix has become more popular than HBO in the United States and has even passed the company in subscribers. When Netflix was created, its co-founder Reed Hastings said that he hoped it could be modeled after HBO.

Like HBO, Netflix attracts customers by offering movies and television series available for a monthly price. Netflix films and shows can be viewed on numerous devices. Over time, Netflix has built customer loyalty with special shows and pricing. Netflix became popular for offering movies that were sent in the mail for the low price of $7.99 a month. Customers could keep the movie as long as they wanted and return it and receive another within a few days. Overtime, Netflix became more online oriented and began to offer videos and show that could be streamed online.Each quarter, the amount of customers using the traditional mailbox form of Netflix declines and the online version becomes more popular.

Netflix owners shouldn’t start bragging just yet, they only have about 9.2 million viewers worldwide where HBO has 114 million. That’s a pretty big gap and one that HBO plans to keep as long as possible. Netflix isn’t done yet though, they hope to follow in HBO’s footsteps even further and are currently in talks with several cable service providers to offer Netflix packages as part of their cable bundles. If these deals workout, Netflix would be competing with HBO even more directly.

It may take some time before Netflix can completely pass HBO, but they company will continue to work on it. As they continue to add new services and more movies, more customers, including international ones, will likely jump on the online bandwagon and give Netflix the boost they need.

“HBO is really focused on doing incredible work and they’ll probably do some of the best shows they ever do in the next five years,” Hastings said on Monday afternoon in a live video discussing the company’s results. “I don’t know when we’ll catch them. It’ll be a long time. They’ve been at it since 1972—that’s 40 years—and we’ve been at it in the streaming sense only seven years.”

Image from Netflix.com