When Netflix reports its earnings after the bell Monday on the heels of 14 Emmy nominations for its original shows, the big question will be how the investment in those originals is paying off.
The number in focus: Netflix's subscribers.
In its last earnings report Netflix projected it would add between 230,000 and 880,000 new U.S. streaming video subscribers, and would end the quarter with as many as 30.05 million. That's the number to watch, with investors hoping the company will at very least come in at the top end of projections, if not exceed them.
With shares of the company trading around a 52-week high, and inching back towards 2011's all-time high, the question is whether Netflix will be able to live up to heightened expectations.
(Read More: Netflix makes Emmy history with 14 nods)
Netflix hasn't issued any "ratings" or numbers to show how well its original series have performed, just talking about a "global viewing and a high level of engagement."
Now that four shows have launched, and three of them drew 14 Emmy nominations, the question is whether we'll hear more about the return-on-investment of the push into original content. And does the performance of the content so far change Netflix's strategy to investment in originals or exclusives moving forward?