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Reelgood: Which Streaming Service Offers the Best Value?
Story Highlights
As streaming services bet big on their ad-supported subscription tiers, Reelgood ran the numbers on the catalogs of seven major streaming services to see which one was offering consumers the most bang for the buck when it comes to movie and TV show catalog size.
Reelgood looked at the numbers for Discovery Plus, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Paramount Plus and Peacock Premium.
When it comes to sheer catalog size for the total number of movies available on U.S. ad-supported streaming services, Netflix was in the lead, according to catalog data from Reelgood and IMDb, which showed that service had a whopping 3,786 movies available.
Peacock Premium trailed slightly behind, with 3,370, followed by Paramount Plus with 2,456, HBO Max with 2,423, Disney Plus with 1,343, Hulu with 1,192 and Discovery Plus with just 399.
Similarly, when it comes to catalog size for the total number of TV shows available on U.S. ad-supported streaming services, Netflix led again, with a total of 2,355 TV shows.
Discovery Plus was next, with 1,987, followed by Hulu with 1,663, Peacock Premium with 1,112, Paramount Plus with 789, HBO Max with 664 and Disney Plus with 586.
But when you look at it from a TV show value perspective, Discovery Plus was in the lead, offering 398 TV shows per dollar spent by the subscriber, according to catalog data from Reelgood and IMDb ratings as of this month.
It was followed by Netflix with 337, Peacock Premium with 223, Hulu with 208, Paramount Plus with 158, Disney Plus with 73 and Hulu with 66.
And a different streaming service came out on top when it came to movies subscribers get for each dollar: Peacock Premium, with 675.
It was followed by Netflix with 542, Paramount Plus with 492, HBO Max with 243, Disney Plus with 168, Hulu with 149 and Discovery Plus with 80.
Based on the findings, some subscribers may want to switch the streaming service – or services – they currently have based on their viewing preferences. That may be especially so when the monthly charge of each streaming service is factored in.
As of May 16, the most expensive U.S. streaming service of the six for ad-supported plans was HBO Max at $9.99 a month, followed by Disney Plus and Hulu at $7.99 each, Netflix at $6.99, and Discovery Plus, Paramount Plus and Peacock Plus at $4.99 each.
