Following its 3rd quarter budget announcement Monday, Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:$NFLX) revealed that it plans to spend between $7 billion and $8 billion on content in 2018. This is an increase from the $6 million dollar content budget it spent this year. The plan also detailed expenditures of $17 billion over the next several years for content. It also expects its original content budget to swell each year.

In a letter to its shareholders, the company wrote, “Our future largely lies in exclusive original content that drives both excitement around Netflix and enormous viewing satisfaction for our global membership and its wide variety of tastes. Our investment in Netflix originals is over a quarter of our total P&L content budget in 2017 and will continue to grow.”

After the closing bell on Monday, Netflix released its third-quarter results. In the announcement, Netflix beat both the bottom and top line. It also added 5.3 million new subscribers worldwide, beating analysts’ estimates.

During after-hours trading on Wednesday, shares of Netflix climbed to $206.63, an increase of 1.9%. So far this year, the stock has risen 64% compared to the S&P 500 gain of 14%.

Netflix stated that it believes the increase in revenue is from a recent subscription price hike, but it also said that it’s planning to use the new income on content. Earlier this month, the company announced that it is increasing the subscription fee from $10 to $11 for regular subscribers and $12 to $14 for premium subscribers.

The price hike is a double-edged sword, however. It is also believed that the price hike will cause the company to add fewer-than-expected U.S. subscribers in the coming quarter. Early analyst forecasts predicted 1.6 million net adds, but Netflix now estimates that it will only add 1.25 million. On the other hand, the number of international subscribers is expected to rise.

The company said, “Increased revenue over time will help us grow our content offering and continue our global operating margin growth. We spend disproportionately in the US to generate media and influencer awareness for our programming which we believe, in turn, is an effective way to facilitate word of mouth globally.”

The boosted budget is also seen as a challenge to its competitors such as Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:$AMZN), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:$GOOGL), and Hulu. However, some companies, such as Disney (NYSE:$DIS) and AMC Networks (NASDAQ:$AMCX) have been undeterred as they plan to launch their own digital networks.

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