Remember the days of strolling through Blockbuster, scouring your town’s Redbox selections, or finding a red envelope from Netflix in your mailbox? Do you also remember the limited choices, long wait times, and late fees that made you want to pull your hair out? Thankfully, the rapid rise of streaming services has put an end to all that, but now we’re faced with a new problem: How do we know which streaming service is the right one?
Instead of going on an internet deep dive until your brain melts, let us help! To find out which streaming service is the best, the team at OvidLife compared them by analyzing monthly subscription fees to available content, the percentage of well-rated (over 7.5 out of 10) movies and TV shows, and the percentage of all media available on the platforms by genre that is well-rated (over 7.5 out of 10).
These insights will help you fill your 2024 with jaw-dropping entertainment that’s sure to make you the official movie night host of your friend group.
The Battle of Quality vs Quantity
When selecting the best streaming service for you, keep two things in mind: Quantity and quality. Sure, it’s great to have a lot to choose from, but an abundance of low-quality movies and TV shows can make you feel like you’re digging through a dumpster in search of a dollar. Don’t spend 2024 sifting through the trash with raccoons—check out our comparison of streaming services based on cost and content.
Quantity: Total Good Titles per Dollar
To accurately portray the quantity factor of the top 8 streaming services, we divided the total number of good TV shows and movies (titles with a rating over 7.5 out of 10) on the platform by the monthly cost of the streaming service. The top 3 are:
- Prime Video – 88 Good Titles per Dollar
- Netflix – 78 Good Titles per Dollar
- MAX – 62 Good Titles per Dollar
Quality: Percentage of Titles With Ratings Over 7.5
To accurately determine the quality factor of the top 8 streaming services, we divided the number of good TV shows and movies (titles with a rating over 7.5 out of 10) on the platform by the total number of TV shows and movies on the streaming service. The top 3 are:
- Apple TV+ – 38.3% of the available content is good
- MAX – 28.9% of the available content is good
- Hulu – 24.5% of the available content is good
With a few exceptions like MAX, there is almost an inverse relationship between quantity and quality, meaning streaming services with a high quantity of titles tend to have more titles of lower quality, too.
Streaming Services With the Best Movies and TV Shows
Which of the top 8 streaming services have the best movies and TV shows? The platforms that allow you to not only binge the classics but also give you access to the new, buzz-worthy content flooding your TikTok FYP?
According to our data, MAX is the best streaming service for movies with 23.7% of its titles rating over 7.5 out of 10. Following closely behind is Apple TV+ with 23.5% of its movies being good. Paramount+ has secured the last spot in the top 3 with 16.2% of its movies boasting good ratings.
When it comes to the best streaming services for TV shows, Apple TV+ holds the largest piece of the pie with 45.4% of its TV shows ranking over 7.5 out of 10. In second place is Hulu with 39.7% of its titles being good. MAX is also a top performer in this category (no surprises there!) with 37.5% of its TV shows receiving good ratings.
Overall, MAX and Apple TV+ take the lead in providing quality content!
The Best Streaming Services for Popular Genres
Have an obsession with a specific genre? No worries; we’ve got stats for that too! Similar to our previous content data, we looked at TV shows and movies across all genres that rated over 7.5 out of 10. Overall, MAX, Hulu, and Paramount+ came out on top as the best streaming services for each of the 7 genres: action and adventure, reality TV, drama, crime, comedy, and kids and family. Let’s take a look at their top genres, as well as who ranked the worst in those categories:
- MAX: If you love watching messy, suspenseful shows and movies, MAX is the streaming service for you! 35.3% of its drama titles earned good ratings. Peacock, on the other hand, came in dead last in this genre with only 10.5% of its drama titles rating higher than 7.5 out of 10.
- Hulu: If you prefer adrenaline-inducing content, try out Hulu! It ranked number one for action and adventure with 31% of its titles in the genre having high ratings. Prime Video is at the bottom of the list for this genre with 9.2% of its titles receiving good ratings.
- Paramount+: If you or your little ones spend a lot of time watching wholesome, family-friendly shows and movies, Paramount+ might be for you! 29% of its titles in the kids and family genre flaunt ratings of over 7.5 out of 10. Despite having the option to create profiles that can only access children’s content, Netflix ranked last in this genre with only 12.4% of its titles having high ratings.
If your favorite genre hasn’t been showcased yet, explore our graphic below to see which streaming service might be right for you!
Closing Thoughts
As streaming services grow and adapt over the years, more and more people are opting to cut the cord on expensive cable packages and make the switch to using streaming platforms exclusively.
Younger generations prefer to do everything online, meaning older generations are more likely to become victims of predatory cable price increases. If you’re looking to escape the lion’s den without losing your favorite TV shows and movies, it’s time to make the switch. Want multiple streaming services to get the best of everything? Consider making your dream come true by selling your life insurance policy to pad your bank account. At OvidLife, we make getting a quote and exchanging your life insurance for cash easy. Find out how it works today.
Methodology
To determine the streaming services that are most cost-effective based on the quantity and quality of content, we analyzed the cost and content data of 8 popular streaming services. We compared the current monthly cost of each service to the total number of TV shows and movies available on them
To take it several steps further, we found the percentage of media that is well-rated (over a 7.5 out of 10 according to IMDb) to find the services with the best content overall and the services with the best content that fall into popular genres. Apple TV+ was not included in the genre category due to there being an insufficient amount of titles to pull data from.
All cost and media data is accurate as of December 2023. The streaming service cost data is from Consumer Reports and the streaming service media data is from JustWatch.