Jordan Karlesson
Ever look at your monthly spending budget and try to determine which streaming service gets the most bang for your buck? Well, you can put away the calculator — a recent study breaks it all down so you don’t have to.
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The study, conducted by tech company Self Financial Inc., determined that Netflix’s library of movies and TV shows is twice as large as that of HBO Max. As basic packages for both streaming services cost $9.99 per month, Netflix provides the best value, according to the study.
“For the quantity of content you get for your subscription price, Netflix’s library is unmatched,” the study said. It noted that Netflix has 6,475 titles compared with HBO Max’s 3,503 titles.
The study found that Netflix also beat HBO Max in terms of content quality, when factoring in IMDb scores. Netflix offers 795 titles with an IMDb rating of at least eight out of 10, while HBO Max has 463. Moreover, Netflix boasts 2.7 times more TV shows (619) that fall into the same “excellent” quality bracket versus HBO Max (230).
The comprehensive study also examined content on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV+, Paramount+ and Peacock. It said about 78 percent of households in the U.S. currently subscribe to one or more TV streaming services.
“Subscribers seem to want new original shows, classic movies, and access to 4K HDR content on demand,” the study said. “Deciding which one to choose, however, can be a challenge.”
Among the other key statistics, Self.inc determined that HBO Max features the most “excellent” quality movies per dollar spent on its cheapest subscription package, at 23 movies per dollar.
Apple TV+ has the highest average IMDb score — 7.08 out of 10 — for its streaming library. However, it has the smallest amount of content.
Apple TV+ also added the highest percentage increase (55.78 percent) to its library from 2021 to 2022, while Netflix added the highest number of new shows/movies (1,404) compared with last year.
Hulu has the highest-quality 4K content, with an average of 7.32 out of 10 on IMDb, according to Self.inc. But Netflix has the most 4K titles — 667 — while Hulu has a mere 49.
Disney+ provides the highest number of family-friendly titles (1,139), per the study.
