Top 10 Rated Streaming Services

Since its genesis in 2007, Netflix has been a pioneering force into the world of streaming services, breaking our tether to the drudgery that is cable T.V. Thus ushering in an era of being able to watch just about anything you want at any time, without the need of a physical DVD or VHS tape and their corresponding device to play it. The introduction of Netflix has opened up a whole new market for viewers and production companies alike with a symbiotic relationship that is still going strong. Where people subscribe to the platform and can watch just about anything when they want, as much as they want, and they can do it from just about any device, anytime, anywhere. Netflix even has a download option so if you expect to have no reception, like on an airplane for example, you still have access to your favorite shows and movies. This also gives Netflix the revenue and relative freedom to create their own shows and movies and to promote them exclusively on their own platform. This can be a good deal for production companies as well because they may feel they have the freedom to explore avenues in their artistic direction that they might not have otherwise, especially under the umbrella that is Netflix. 

Netflix being the first streaming platform on the scene has enjoyed a largely unchallenged poll position for the most subscriptions to a streaming platform. Other gargantuan companies soon caught on to the enormity of what Netflix had established and the precedent it had set and decided to jump on the bandwagon and began to put together their own streaming services. Names like Prime Video, Hulu, and HBO Max among others set down the path that Netflix had paved. Netflix, however, had set the bar incredibly high, so for the initial inception of the other streaming services, they were overshadowed for a long time until they developed the connections they needed for their content as well as working out any kinks with their streaming format. 

Parks Associates, a reputable video market tracking company, that over the last decade has been reliably keeping tabs on the statistics concerning streaming platforms and its subscribers-  Up until 2021 Netflix has maintained its ranking as number one. Prime Video has steadily maintained second place for this duration and Hulu/Disney has reliably maintained 3rd with the remaining positions varying considerably. As of 2022 an upset has occurred according to Parks and Associates- Prime Video has taken the poll position from Netflix, and as it stands the ranking is as follows. 

  1. Prime Video
  2. Netflix
  3. HULU
  4. Disney+
  5. HBO Max
  6. ESPN+
  7. Paramount+
  8. Apple TV+
  9. Peacock
  10. Starz

When Amazon decided to make a streaming service bundled into their membership services it was a stroke of genius. Anyone who pays for their Amazon Prime membership not only enjoys free shipping on most of their orders, but is also granted access to Amazon Prime Video for free, where they have shows and movies available to watch that are included with Prime, while also offering options not included with their membership, but that can be bought or rented. This makes a wider range of available content available, and creates a price range with which people can adhere to as they please. Like Netflix, Prime Video also offers exclusive content that they fund and make themselves. This includes such titles as The Grand Tour with the former Top Gear stars Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May reprising their roles as themselves.

Most notably, and very possibly the reason Prime Video has taken Poll position from Netflix after so many years may be due to their latest production of The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power. This show boasts the largest T.V. series budget in history by far. The budget reached heights in excess of $715 million dollars, and that’s not to mention the $250 million they paid for the rights to the Lord of the Rings franchise bringing the grand total up to almost $1 billion dollars.

This franchise was popularized by Peter Jackson’s movies that were based entirely off of the works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien and share the same names. Those books and movies have an enormous following, and have set a precedent that to this day has arguably yet to meet its match. The movies, most notably the final installment in The Lord of the Rings movie series, The Return of the King,  in 2002 earned 11 academy awards alone. So when amazon prime announced its intentions to make a T.V. series based in the same universe there was some skepticism, however their budget and production development led people to flock to Prime Video upon the release.

Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ all fall under the same umbrella that is The Walt Disney Company, however even standalone they hold the 3rd, 4th, and 6th positions on the totem pole of the top rated streaming services. Hulu has been steadily 3rd in 2019 and 2020, but lost its position as 3rd to its sister company Disney+ for the 2021 year. Possibly in part due to the introduction of the widely successful T.V. series The Mandalorian, a welcome addition to the Star Wars universe in November of 2019, to which the second season aired at the end of October 2020. This among all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not to mention their animated movies and plethora of shows,  makes it a contender for the top spot at all time.

We are seeing healthy competition between streaming platforms that begets production of better and bigger movies and shows. The viewers at large remain the judges and will subscribe – or unsubscribe, as they deem fit pertaining to what they want to watch. As movies and shows become relevant or irrelevant it can now be reflected in the streaming services that represent them, and this is reflected in what those streaming services are putting out. The better the content is that the streaming service is making the more subscribers it may garner. 

For example, the streaming service Peacock has made incredible strides in the past year concerning subscribers, knocking Showtime off of the leader board completely and taking the 9th position and finally breaking through the threshold in 2022. It’s likely to only rise from there, especially because it not only has movies and T.V. shows, it is largely geared towards live streaming sports. This streaming service has been slowly but steadily making its way to the top of the pole, and now with the World Cup taking place this year along with Premier League Soccer, American Football and the encroaching Super Bowl, it’s likely to increase its users with minimal drop off because of the consistency with which major sports are played and watched, and the game plan that NBCU has laid out.

It’s safe to say that with the developments that streaming services have been making, coupled with new shows, movies, and other content to watch and the healthy competition between them, the top ten list of highest rated streaming services may become more volatile. As more streaming platforms arise and more services become available we may see the rise and fall of many platforms, but only time will tell. 

About Vedette Finance

Tarek Anthony Jabre, CEO and Founder of Vedette Finance, continues to syndicate with producer partners, and crew, of the highest expertise and experience in the entertainment industry. For more information, visit www.vedettefinance.com.