New Study Reports Netflix Has Fewest Technical Problems of All Streaming Services

When it comes to the streaming world, it seems Netflix dominates in all categories. According Variety, a new study by J.D. Power found that the streaming trailblazer is the service with the least amount of technical problems. With 0.07 technical problems per hour of content streamed on average, Netflix falls behind Amazon Prime Video and Hulu that both had 0.11, Disney+, which had 0.12, and YouTube TV, which had 0.13.

The study also found that when asked which service they would pick if they could only pick one, Netflix was the number one answer among respondents with 54 percent. Amazon Prime Video came in second with 17 percent of respondents saying they would choose it, while Hulu was third with 13 percent and Disney+ came in fourth with 4 percent.

Worth noting is the fact that respondents in the survey were based in the U.S. Earlier this month, customers in the EU were upset with streamer as they continued to degrade video quality without adjusting prices. At the time, Variety reported, “Netflix customers in Europe and the UK say the streamer is still delivering throttled HD and Ultra HD video, in some cases with bit rates at less than 50 percent than usual. They say that has caused noticeable degradation of image quality, including blurring and pixelation, especially on bigger TV screen sizes.”

This was a huge problem for consumers because not only were they receiving sub-par video quality, but the streaming giant continued to charge all plans as though they were operating normally. Netflix’s basic plan offers SD-only streaming, the standard tier offers HD quality while the premium plan offers up to Ultra HD for select content.

Days after the report came out, Netflix, along with Apple TV+, began restoring video quality in countries such as Denmark, Norway and Germany, among others.

Netflix began lowering video quality at the behest of EU internal market and services commissioner Thierry Breton. At the time, Breton was afraid the influx of users due to the COVID-19 pandemic would make for slower internet bandwidth, leaving the continent at risk for not being able to communicate quickly if needed. Netflix implemented the changes first, then other services such as Amazon, YouTube and Facebook all followed suit.