After raising its prices this year, Netflix is the most expensive of the major subscription-streaming services, according to Reelgood‘s analysis.
Reelgood focused on Netflix’s most popular plan, the standard $15.49 per month plan, though the service also has a cheaper tier that costs $9.99 in the US.
The analysis also focused on ad-free plans, but Paramount+, Peacock, HBO Max, Hulu, Discovery+, and soon Disney+ also offer cheaper ad-supported options.
Netflix had typically shot down the idea of introducing an ad-supported plan. But the company said on Tuesday that it would explore the creation of an ad-supported tier “over the next year or two.”
Here’s Reelgood’s price breakdown of the major streamers:
Amazon Prime Video has nearly 7,000 movies available to stream for subscribers, the most of any of the services analyzed by Reelgood.
However, Prime Video has lost thousands of movies over the last two years, according to Reelgood. In its 2020 analysis, the service offered nearly 13,000 movies, eclipsing the second largest movie library, Netflix, which had more than 3,700 at the time.
Today, Netflix is a bit closer to Prime Video, with over 4,000 movies available on the service.
HBO Max, though, has the most “high-quality” movies of any of the services included in the report with over 500. Reelgood defines a “high-quality” movie as having a score of 7.5 or more on IMDb.
Here are the total number of movies available on each service, including licensed and original movies (along with the number of high-quality movies):
Prime Video is one of the least expensive services (on its own and not accounting for the cost of full Amazon Prime). With more movies than any other service, it also gets users the most bang for their buck, with more than 700 movies per dollar that subscribers pay each month.
Netflix, Paramount+, and Peacock follows with over 200 movies per dollar.
Here’s how many movies subscribers get per dollar on each service:
In Reelgood’s 2020 analysis, Prime Video had the most TV shows of any service. Now, Netflix, Hulu, and Discovery+ have more.
Netflix gained around 200 TV shows in the last two years, while Prime Video lost about 700. Hulu also doesn’t have as many shows as it did in 2020, but Prime Video’s library took a bigger hit.
Netflix also has the most “high-quality” shows of the services, which Reelgood defined as any series with an 8.0 score on IMDb or higher.
Here’s the total number of TV shows on each streaming service, including licensed and original shows (along with the number of high-quality shows available):
Discovery+, being one of the cheaper streaming services, has the most TV shows per dollar when taking into account the monthly subscription.
Prime Video follows with 169 shows per dollar.
Here’s how many TV shows subscribers get per dollar on each service:
Apple TV+: It’s the cheapest of the major streaming services at only $4.99 per month, but offers the smallest movie and TV library. Without a large catalog of licensed content, Apple TV+ offers primarily original content.
Amazon Prime Video: Netflix still trails Prime Video in total movies, though Prime’s library has decreased significantly in recent years. And it’s not just in movies; the service has lost hundreds of TV shows over the last two years. In 2020, it had the biggest TV library. Now, it has fewer shows than several other services.
Discovery+: With the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, HBO Max and Discovery+ are expected to be eventually merged into one mega service. Discovery+ has a sizable TV catalog, the second biggest behind Netflix, thanks to its vast library of unscripted content — an area HBO Max could improve in.
Disney+: Disney+ has smaller movie and TV libraries than even Peacock and Paramount+. But at $7.99 per month, it’s among the cheapest offerings. It has relied on the popularity of its franchises to this point, but may have to built up its content catalog to stay competitive.
HBO Max: Max is the No. 2 most expensive service behind Netflix, but it has a sizable movie library that includes the most “high-quality” movies of any of the services included in the report. It has a less impressive TV library in size, but movie fans would find a lot to like with Max.
Hulu: The Disney-operated service is in a precarious position. It’s lacking in movies compared to other services but has a large TV library. However, it remains to be seen what Disney’s plans for the service are. Comcast still owns a stake in the platform, which it’s set to sell back to Disney within the next two years. Ahead of that, Comcast plans to remove its new NBC programming from Hulu, which would decrease its TV library even more.
Netflix: It’s now the most expensive service, but it has the biggest TV library. The streamer releases the most original content by far, which will continue to expand its TV catalog ahead of its rivals in the years to come.
Peacock and Paramount+: The services, from NBCUniversal and Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS) respectively, are similar in that they both have decent-sized catalogs, but are lacking in “high-quality” movies and shows relative to the size of the libraries.
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