For anyone getting started in the streaming market, it’s a great time to be alive. You have a panoply of options that spreads out before you like the horizon from 300 feet up. Yet with all those choices comes a certain confusion about just where to go. A new report from Television Business International provides a little extra insight and proves the best streaming platform for you is the one that has what you want.
TBI drew on data provided by Omdia’s partner provider, Media Biz, to produce the study’s results. Under normal circumstances, Amazon Prime Video was the front-runner in terms of overall content available on the service, as measured by total number of hours viewable. Amazon had a winning hand, and maintained it, by putting out 45,997 hours of content.
When Tubi stepped in, though, that changed the game—considerably. Tubi brought in just a hair over double the content Amazon was packing, with a hefty 92,995 hours of content available. Amazon didn’t just lose to Tubi in the recent changes, however; Amazon now stands at third behind Tubi and, in a surprise win, Hulu. Hulu posted 46,527 hours of video, though that figure benefits from a rule TBI used that moved some of Amazon’s content to IMDb TV instead. (IMDb TV content can be accessed within the Amazon Prime Video app on most platforms.) Tubi, meanwhile, has benefited substantially from a huge load of Fox content being parked on the service.
Source: Omdia
Where things get interesting, however, is when you start looking at content by type. The TBI study found that there were five major types of content:
- Drama
- Comedy
- Unscripted
- Children's
- Anime
Scripted drama is a big draw for many streaming services. In fact, for four services—SundanceNOW, Starz, HBO, and AMC—it’s over half of what’s available on those services. Comedy appears almost everywhere, but usually in lower amounts than drama overall. Unscripted content shows up in many places—reality TV is still a big deal—and some networks absolutely revel in it like Discovery+ and History Vault. Children's content is commonly available, particularly on Disney+. Anime, makes a big appearance on services like Crunchyroll, but can be found elsewhere in varying quantities.
It’s a surprise to not see major genre favorites like action, horror, and science fiction in the mix, but these genres often go less seen on television than they do as movies. In fact, movies are something of their own field as far as streaming goes. Most services have at least some long-form content, but far and away the winner was Tubi. Tubi brought in almost 9,000 videos, while the second-place finisher in that field is—and here’s another shocker for you—Pluto TV with 2,681.
All these numbers add up to one key conclusion: those who want to cut the cable and go to a purely streaming proposition have never had so many options. In fact, all you’ll have to do is figure out just what it is you watch most and then try to find the service that best accommodates your interest. Regardless of what that interest is, you’ll probably be able to find something to match it, as demonstrated by the results of this study here.
Of course, it also means you’ll have to do quite a bit of homework to figure out just which service best meets your needs. But with the huge savings against cable to consider, it will likely be a chore you’re willing to tackle.
Related: What is the Best Streaming Service for Each Movie and TV Genre?