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Back to Data & Guides
Money


WHICH TV STREAMING SERVICE IS THE BEST VALUE FOR MONEY?


Data & Guides Money Which TV streaming service is the best value for money?

It seems every few months there is a new TV streaming service asking us for a
monthly subscription or confirming a price increase for the existing service.
Latest figures estimate that 62% of households in America currently subscribe to
at least one TV streaming service. People want new original shows, classic
movies, and access to 4K HDR content on demand. Deciding which one to choose
however, can be a challenge.

We’ve analyzed the content on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, Apple
TV+, and HBO Max to find out which one offers you the best content. Let’s dig
into the data.


CONTENTS

 * Key Statistics
 * Which TV streaming service has the best value for money?
 * Which streaming service gives you a better bang for your buck?
   * Movies Per Dollar Spent
   * TV Shows Per Dollar Spent
 * Which streaming service has the best 4K content?
   * Average audience ratings of 4K content on each streaming service
 * Best streaming platform for families
   * Average audience ratings of family content on each streaming service
 * Best streaming platform per IMDb genre
   * Key findings from genre analysis
 * Methodology
 * Sources


KEY STATISTICS

 * AppleTV+ has the highest average IMDb score for its titles (7.24), but has
   fewer than 70 titles to choose from
 * Hulu has the highest-quality 4K content with an average of 7.59/10 IMDb
   score, but Netflix (530) and Disney+ (420) have much higher quantity
 * Netflix and HBO Max offer the most ‘excellent’ quality (8+ IMDb) movies per
   dollar spent on the platform at 15 and 14 respectively. 
 * Netflix offers over 3x more ‘Excellent’ quality TV shows than its nearest
   competitor: Amazon Prime Video
 * HBO Max offers the biggest library of family-friendly content and it’s the
   highest rated out of all streaming services, even beating Disney+


WHICH TV STREAMING SERVICE HAS THE BEST VALUE FOR MONEY?

For the quantity of content you get for your subscription price, Netflix’s
library is unmatched: it is over three times the size of its nearest competitor,
HBO Max, which charges a flat $14.99/month offering no ‘basic’ option like the
rest. 

But, value for money shouldn’t be judged by the pure quantity of content
available to viewers: it needs to factor in the quality of titles we are able to
stream.

Using IMBD ratings and scoring ranges we can see that Netflix offers the most
titles of excellent quality, closely followed by HBO Max. Some analyses will
look at the total number of content on these platforms (including paid-for
movies and series’) but we have only taken into account the content available to
you at the price you pay per month. 


WHICH STREAMING SERVICE GIVES YOU A BETTER BANG FOR YOUR BUCK? 

It’s likely obvious that Netflix provides the most content, and a lot of
high-quality content, and is similarly priced to the other platforms, therefore
it offers the best value for money. But what exactly does this look like per
dollar analysis, and what is the best choice if you have children or want the
most 4K content? 


MOVIES PER DOLLAR SPENT

This analysis uses the cheapest monthly cost you can pay to see how many movies
and shows you get for every dollar you spend. Unsurprisingly, Netflix is on top
with 15 ‘Excellent’ movies per dollar, but a huge 165 movies per dollar that are
‘Good’. The runner up is HBO Max despite its much larger price tag ($14.99)
offering 14 ‘Excellent’ movies per dollar, and 97 ‘Good’ ones. 

To find this out we broke down all of the content available on these platforms
and analyzed how high audiences rate their content per genre (via IMDb scores)
and what content is available in 4K quality.

Did you know your Netflix habits can help you to build credit? See our guide to
learn more about streaming services and building credit.


TV SHOWS PER DOLLAR SPENT

While HBO Max has a library of movies to rival Netflix, when it comes to TV
shows and those binge-worthy seasons, currently, no one is beating the big red
streaming giant. 

Netflix offers you 62 ‘Excellent’ shows (out of ~557) for every $1, and 179
‘Good’ shows (out of 1608). Amazon Prime Video offers the 2nd most ‘Excellent’
shows per dollar at 19 (out of 172), with HBO Max offering the 2nd most ‘Good’
shows at 50 per $1 (out of 774). When it comes to getting the most for your
money, Netflix is unrivaled. Disney+ does get a notable mention here though
because it offers almost 45 ‘Good’ shows for every dollar spent (out of 353)
taking the 3rd spot. 


WHICH STREAMING SERVICE HAS THE BEST 4K CONTENT? 

If we judge 4K content by audience rating, Hulu comes out on top with a 7.6
average IMDb score for its 4K movies and series. The British drama ‘Normal
People’ is the platform’s highest rated 4K content at 8.5/10. 4K content was
actually the lowest average on Disney+ but that is partially due to the platform
having the 2nd most content behind Netflix. 


AVERAGE AUDIENCE RATINGS OF 4K CONTENT ON EACH STREAMING SERVICE:

 * Hulu - 7.59
 * Amazon Prime Video - 7.29
 * Apple TV+ - 7.13
 * HBO Max - 7.01
 * Netflix - 6.94
 * Disney+ - 6.63

In terms of 4K quantity, and getting the most bang for your buck, it’s
unsurprisingly Netflix who comes out on top with 530 4K titles. The 2nd position
goes to Disney+ however with 420 UHD titles, sweeping Amazon’s 116 titles away
with ease. If 4K content is the reason you’re looking into streaming services:
Netflix and Disney+ should be the only contenders for your cash. 


BEST STREAMING PLATFORM FOR FAMILIES

To determine which streaming platform offers the most, and best, content for
families we filtered our analysis based on ages 7 (TV-Y7/PG) and below. 

While Netflix has the vastly larger library, HBO Max and Disney+ offer more
movies and shows for families. When we factor in audience ratings too, we can
see that HBO Max offers the most family-friendly content and the highest quality
on average. For families, the service offers content like Tom and Jerry, Batman:
The Animated Series, and Planet Earth (rated TV-PG). It’s no surprise that
Disney+ offers a significant amount of family-friendly content, at similar
average ratings to the other platforms too. 


AVERAGE AUDIENCE RATINGS OF FAMILY CONTENT ON EACH STREAMING SERVICE:

 * HBO Max - 6.99
 * Hulu - 6.97
 * Apple TV+ - 6.94
 * Netflix - 6.81
 * Disney+ - 6.69
 * Amazon Prime Video - 6.66


BEST STREAMING PLATFORM PER IMDB GENRE

To take this analysis a step further we also analyzed the impact of audience
ratings per IMDb-assigned genre on each streaming platform. This is where
Netflix’s vast quantity is its downfall as other streaming services, namely HBO
Max and Hulu take the top spots more often than not. 

Genres Netflix Prime Video Disney+ Hulu HBO Max Apple TV+ Genre Action Netflix
6.39 Prime Video 3.35 Disney+ 6.24 Hulu 6.90 HBO Max 6.96 Apple TV+ 6.38* Genre
Adventure Netflix 6.09 Prime Video 5.68 Disney+ 5.84 Hulu 7.10 HBO Max 6.61
Apple TV+ 4.79* Genre Animation Netflix 5.63 Prime Video 6.52 Disney+ 5.88 Hulu
7.41 HBO Max 7.01 Apple TV+ 5.96 Genre Biography Netflix 6.70 Prime Video 4.64
Disney+ 6.82 Hulu 7.05 HBO Max 7.43 Apple TV+ 5.69* Genre Comedy Netflix 6.13
Prime Video 4.95 Disney+ 5.95 Hulu 6.85 HBO Max 6.59 Apple TV+ 5.40 Genre Crime
Netflix 6.37 Prime Video 5.83 Disney+ 6.22 Hulu 6.70 HBO Max 6.76 Apple TV+
1.67* Genre Documentary Netflix 6.81 Prime Video 1.90 Disney+ 6.22 Hulu 6.98 HBO
Max 7.29 Apple TV+ 5.51 Genre Drama Netflix 6.37 Prime Video 5.41 Disney+ 5.85
Hulu 6.96 HBO Max 6.92 Apple TV+ 3.92 Genre Family Netflix 5.90 Prime Video 3.93
Disney+ 5.96 Hulu 6.92* HBO Max 6.73 Apple TV+ 5.17 Genre Fantasy Netflix 5.55
Prime Video 4.53 Disney+ 5.78 Hulu 6.36* HBO Max 6.19 Apple TV+ 2.73* Genre
Film-Noir Netflix 7.07* Prime Video 7.40* Disney+ N/A Hulu 0.00* HBO Max 7.74*
Apple TV+ N/A Genre Game-Show Netflix 6.75 Prime Video 4.37* Disney+ 4.93* Hulu
5.10* HBO Max 5.44* Apple TV+ N/A Genre History Netflix 5.63 Prime Video 5.81
Disney+ 7.29 Hulu 7.50* HBO Max 7.59 Apple TV+ 2.55* Genre Horror Netflix 5.19
Prime Video 3.76 Disney+ 5.85 Hulu 5.50* HBO Max 6.21 Apple TV+ 4.11* Genre
Music Netflix 5.95 Prime Video 4.53 Disney+ 4.47 Hulu 6.51* HBO Max 6.44 Apple
TV+ 3.98* Genre Musical Netflix 4.24 Prime Video 4.57 Disney+ 6.54 Hulu 8.20*
HBO Max 6.34 Apple TV+ 2.44* Genre Mystery Netflix 5.79 Prime Video 5.33 Disney+
6.44 Hulu 6.15* HBO Max 7.20 Apple TV+ 6.76* Genre News Netflix 6.01 Prime Video
1.10* Disney+ 4.00* Hulu 7.80* HBO Max 7.22* Apple TV+ 1.68* Genre Reality-TV
Netflix 6.02 Prime Video 3.13 Disney+ 4.65 Hulu 7.03* HBO Max 6.52 Apple TV+
5.09* Genre Romance Netflix 6.31 Prime Video 5.02 Disney+ 6.26 Hulu 7.15* HBO
Max 5.04 Apple TV+ 4.25* Genre Sci-Fi Netflix 4.63 Prime Video 4.10 Disney+ 6.48
Hulu 6.63* HBO Max 6.28 Apple TV+ 2.94* Genre Short Netflix 4.64 Prime Video
2.09 Disney+ 4.99 Hulu 6.65* HBO Max 6.93 Apple TV+ 1.16* Genre Sport Netflix
6.33 Prime Video 4.19 Disney+ 3.15 Hulu 7.31* HBO Max 6.84 Apple TV+ 3.37* Genre
Talk-Show Netflix 5.04 Prime Video 2.73 Disney+ 2.90* Hulu 7.05* HBO Max 4.32*
Apple TV+ 2.48* Genre Thriller Netflix 4.68 Prime Video 4.88 Disney+ 7.13* Hulu
5.37* HBO Max 5.70 Apple TV+ N/A Genre War Netflix 7.26 Prime Video 5.32*
Disney+ 8.80* Hulu 7.33* HBO Max 7.38 Apple TV+ 3.38* Genre Western Netflix 5.86
Prime Video 4.20 Disney+ 6.30* Hulu 6.80* HBO Max 7.09 Apple TV+ N/A

*This indicates where the streaming service has less than 15 titles (movies and
shows) associated to that genre, therefore average IMDb scores should be
reviewed with this in mind. N/A states where no titles were found for that genre
or IMDb had no ratings available for the content.


KEY FINDINGS FROM IMDB GENRE ANALYSIS:

 * Netflix has the best game-show content out of all streaming services (6.75
   IMDb rating)
 * HBO Max has the best documentaries, and has almost 300 of them (299)
 * Hulu has the highest-rated comedies (137) but Netflix (1,785), and HBO Max
   (1,252) have far more to choose from
 * Disney+ has the highest-rated sci-fi content, while Hulu takes the top spot
   for animations
 * HBO Max has half the number of horror content (171) compared to Netflix (359)
   but is on average better quality (6.21 v 5.19)
 * Apple TV+ has put most of its effort into dramas (47) but only averages 3.9
   IMDb score per show.
 * HBO Max has the best sports content averaging 6.8 for each piece of content
   (Hulu has a high score but only 2 pieces of sports content)


METHODOLOGY

We analyzed tens of thousands of TV shows, movies, and documentaries, from IMDb
to get lists of content available on each platform. The list was compiled on
23rd March 2021, therefore shows added after this will not be included in the
analysis. Likewise, if a show was removed from one platform and transferred to
another around this date, there may also be changes in the data. For those
streaming platforms that offer paid options on top of the content already
available like Prime Video and Apple TV+ we discounted any content that users
needed to pay for on top of the existing subscription fee. 


IMDB SCORE

IMDb’s Top 250 content has scores of 8+ therefore our analysis used those with
an IMDb score of 8+ for ‘Excellent’ and 6-7.99 for ‘Good’, with anything below
this being deemed OK-Poor. IMDb weights it’s averages internally to ensure
fairness and no manipulation of the system. You can read more about that here:
https://help.imdb.com/article/imdb/track-movies-tv/ratings-faq/G67Y87TFYYP6TWAV#


AGE RATINGS

When analyzing age ratings from the IMDb data, some content had been ‘Not rated’
officially, and others lacked a rating on the IMDb listing. These were removed
from any analysis related to age ratings. 


PER DOLLAR ANALYSIS

Per dollar analysis of the content was calculated using the number of movies and
shows against the minimum monthly subscription cost of the streaming service.
HBO Max does not offer a tiered pricing like the other platforms which should be
taken into consideration. 


FAMILY CONTENT ANALYSIS

For the analysis of ‘family content’ we used the age ratings of all content
suitable for ages 7 and under, not the content labelled as a ‘Family’ genre from
IMDb. This is due to lots of content not being labelled as ‘Family’ in the IMDb
listings, or where a listing already had 3 primary genre categories, therefore,
‘Family’ could not fit. Age ratings were deemed a better judgement of what is
family-friendly than a genre tag. 


DATA COLLECTED

We collected the content title, release date, age rating classification,
runtime, genre(s), it’s associated streaming platform, IMDb score, content
quality (HD/HDR), and whether it was an ‘Original’ to that platform. Where
multiple seasons exist of a series, we took the overall TV show average rather
than repeated averages of each season. This overall TV show average fed into
wider averages, for example, ‘Average 4K IMDb score’ will factor one score from
a TV show and not each individual episode score. 


SOURCES

All streaming content was adapted from IMDb listings. To find out whether
content was available in 4K or HDR, we used listings from HD Report and checked
this separate data against our own streaming content listings. Wikipedia was
also used to update data that was missing from the IMDb listings.


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