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Amazon Prime Video Has More Movies, But Netflix Has Higher-Rated Films, Study Says (usatoday.com)
When you want to watch a movie, which streaming service truly delivers? If you want quality, opt for Netflix. If you prefer quantity, peruse Amazon Prime Video. From a report: That's the conclusion from Streaming Observer. The tech news website looked at all of the movies on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and HBO Now as of January 20 and analyzed the films' ratings on movie and TV review site Rotten Tomatoes. Also factored in: data from the streaming providers, as well as third-party search sites Reelgood and JustWatch. The site found Amazon had the most movies (17,461) -- four times that of Netflix (3,839) and many more times the amount on Hulu (2,336) and HBO (815). But Netflix had more movies -- 596, more than 15 percent of its library -- with a "Certified Fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes, a designation given to the best-reviewed films.
The top rated movie of ALL TIME on Rotten Tomatoes is "Black Panther". So....yeah.
Yeah, there's a lot of utter trash on Prime.
This doesn't surprise me tbh.
I have both Amazon Prime and Netflix. If I had to give one up, Netflix would get the boot. Netflix has much better video/image/compression quality but it also has far fewer new movies. On AP, there are normally two or three new movies a week that are worth a watch. On Netflix, it's more like one a month but with lots of self-produced, slightly-better-than-TV-movies acting as filler. Then there's the fact that AP also does rentals. Realistically, Netflix only shines for those who want to binge watch a bunch of TV shows.
Oh boy Apple TV doesnt even rank. I cant imagine there is anything worth watching on it. I have prime. I definitely do not need a selection of the pundits favorite movies that all have pretty much the same plot.
How come they didn't analyze Tubi.tv, Crackle.com, Filmrise.com, Pluto.tv...There is more than just Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and HBO
Oh, how the articles on Slashdot keep getting less and less technical over time :-(
When I tried Prime many of the shows were only listed and required paying more $$$ to view them. It didn't appear to have that many shows included in the subscription or at least anything looking worth watching was not included.
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youtube > movies
TV is for old people.
I have netflix Canada, it's convenient, but few shows I want, or only 1/3 of a trilogy. What's the point? I think I'll save the money.
I think the key difference between Netflix and Prime is that Prime will buy up the rights to complete and utter garbage, but Netflix sets a floor. For example, Prime has a huge selection of 70s/80s B/C movies and stuff that appears to be a small step above an undergraduate film major's first project. Netflix may have movies that are not "good" or remotely current, but most were at least shown in mainline theaters when they came out (Netflix originals excepted). Netflix also has a much more robust original content pipeline.
Really not too surprising. Prime for most people is really just a nice little add on to expedited shipping they would otherwise pay for. Netflix has to stand on its own as a streaming service. I don't blame Amazon for buying up a ton of really cheap streaming rights to fill out their collection. Besides, some of the 70s B movies are so bad they are hilarious.
For us outside USA (in EU) it makes no difference because both have limited and mediocre offer.
So if this was a comparison of clubs, Amazon is the club full of pimply-faced, fat chicks and Netflix is the one full of fit 8s, 9s and 10s?
I've looked at a number of Netflix movies, I'm not sure I'd put the rating that high... but then that might push the Amazon rating lower too (I've watched like two movies on Prime, so not qualified to comment there)?
Not sure why I am being modded down.
Because you didn't make a useful or thoughtful point in the opinion of the moderators. And that fact is the answer to why certain movies have high Rotten Tomatoes scores. So Black Panther evidently has the highest ranking by whatever metrics Rotten Tomatoes uses. So what? It's just a ranking by some arbitrary metric. If that movie happens to be Black Panther then so be it. That isn't a problem. Lots of people consider it to be a very good movie worth watching and it's super popular with some demographics. Other movies would top the list by other criteria.
The best movies of all time. Think about that.
Ahh there is your error. It isn't a ranking of "best" movies. Never was. It's just a consensus opinion of whether a movie is worth considering spending time to see. It's not some sort of Academy Award for best picture of all time. Don't confuse the two.
n/a
Wading through films on Amazon is like looking through the ex-rental bucket at Blockbuster, can't speak for Netflix. Give me two episodes of a half-decent series over a crappy film anyday - who's got time for rubbish when there is so much choice available, at any time of day?
So if this was a comparison of clubs, Amazon is the club full of pimply-faced, fat chicks and Netflix is the one full of fit 8s, 9s and 10s?
By your comparison, the bouncer wouldn't let you in to the Netflix club... and maybe not the Amazon club either.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Wife did a trial, and I asked if it included video. She didn't know. So we looked and it did. I wouldn't say we did an exhaustive search, but there was very little that we'd be interested in watching.
Amazon Prime comes with my subscription, which, for me is worth it. I order a lot from prime that pretty much pays for the shipping I get. The video & music is just icing on the cake. I mostly binge watch older shows. You can get an entire season of 30 minute shows in one afternoon.
Not sure there are 17,461 free (with Prime membership) movies on Amazon Prime, maybe that amount if you include the rent/buy option of Amazon.
Amazon has probably the worst interface on PC to get to their movies. Most apps to search are much better but not great. Until they fix the GUI the video that comes with Amazon Prime is just a bonus to the shipping option. Just copy Netflix and be done with it already!
WTF?
Although I totally agree with your revelation about the top rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes, in general I agree with the statement that Netflix more often has content I actually want to see, while Prime does have a wider range of movies but most of them are mediocre.
That's after many years of owning and using both services.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The Netflix app for Fire TV gets integrated with the basic search. Fire will show a Netflix option if it's there over the Amazon one.
Whilst there might be a period of fragmentation at least this setup doesn't require two searches.
Sure, Amazon has way more. But (at least through the ROKU app) good luck trying to find an interesting movie, even if it's not top-rated, that's free through Prime membership.
Almost any worthwhile film, even old black and white movies, is usually for rent or sale, rather than free through Prime. And browsing through the entire mess is more trouble than it's worth.
We only have Amazon Prime in our household. Trying to find a good family movie to watch (we have a son in kindergarten) is extremely difficult.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Certified fresh is a circle jerk designation given by social justice warriors and the Hollywood elite.
85/100 certified fresh means the film is garbage. Explains why I can never find anything to watch on Netflix
You insensitive clod! Of course films are more highly rated.
Nobody gets Prime for the videos.
Its for the 2 day free shipping.
There's no chromecast support, so I'm not sure how I can watch these shows.
I don't want to crowd around my laptop.
Why do so many people think DVDs are a thing of the past. I can get most movies on Netflix DVD. If they switch me to streaming I'll quit and get by with the local library's selection. Amazon? No way. Streaming selection simply isn't worth the trouble. Why? I don't know. I assume it's because the royalties are not high enough for the studios to take part, so they only allow their junk to be streamed.
And you'd be the guy giving blow jobs at the men's room gloryhole.
a movie is, it's a popularity contest. There's nothing wrong with that. If you're in the business of making moves you spend most of your time/money on figuring out what's going to be the most popular, not what's going to be the best artistically/thematically.
RT not so good for film historians but great for consumer trends. If you're trying to build a stable of content it's a decent enough barometer.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
most of the cool stuff being done these days isn't consumer tech or code monkey level. That stuff has mostly settled down and standardized. There's plenty of tech out there but it's stuff like complex biotech research for a specific illness or figuring out how the next step to marginally cheaper 7nm tech. Complex and incremental and therefore poor fodder for a web forum.
To be fair streaming TV & Movies are pretty nerdie.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
There's a 3 part anime I wanted to buy (Kizumonogatari) and I had to wait an extra 3 weeks before parts 1 and 3 showed up in search results. I later found out if I'd drilled down into the categories they were there.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Until these services support a standard API, I use neither. Just pirate the videos instead.
Apparently from my birth in the 1960s, through the oughts, I got used to TVs using standard interfaces. You think I'm going to go back to pre-1920s tech?!
I'm going to pirate until Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, CBS, etc catch up. At least they need to work as well as what my grandparents had. That's not asking much in exchange for money. I'm sure they'll be standardizing any month now.
The real issue is prime somehow has a worse UI than Netflix - quite an accomplishment - that leads you consistently to videos that aren't actually on prime, but merely purchasable.
It's the other films that I haven't seen yet, that may actually be superb but too niche to receive mainstream recognition, that I want to see.
That's nice but I don't think that is what Prime Video is offering.
By mediocre, I mean just that - not unknown. Not indie or foreign. Mostly Prime movies are a lot of just OK movies that did not escape attention, they simply didn't warrant much.
You mentioned Lilya 4-Ever, but I don't see it on prime video... but I do see Post Impact. And Mars Attacks.
Meanwhile on Netflix I have watched some interesting international movies, way more than I have seen through Prime Video.
It could be that I've just missed them, Prime Video search and recommendation being even more horrific than Netflix.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I cancelled Netflix last year. I cancelled Amazon Prime last month. I did that because our local video store, Salzer's in Ventura, CA, is a superb video store with English and foreign titles that not many streaming services have. I pay $60 a year to access the PBS archives through my digital devices, and I have a large credit balance with iTunes for software and digital movie rentals. This arrangement allows me to find movie gems at my video store, get the best news and documentary through PBS and get all of the frivolous Hollywood stuff through iTunes. I no longer waste time scrolling through endless screens of stupid movies that some dickhead "suggests" to me. Support your local indie video store. Salzer's in Ventura. Cinefile in West LA. Please put up the names of your local killer video stores. Algorithms have yet to better good taste. Of all the Netflix suggestions, I must confess that the Dead Snow movies and Look Who's Back were truly excellent.
"...who search the reason of things
Are those who bring the most sorrow on themselves." --Euripides, The Medea
Myself I watch a lot of Korean drama at random sites which might be gray-market for all I know, like gooddrama.to, and a bit of anime from places like animedao (I would like to like crunchyroll, but I prefer to download rather than stream). And I pick up disks at the local library on occasion, and buy them via bn.com now and then.
There's more stuff out there than I can possibly deal with, and I feel no gap in my life for not keeping up with netflix/amazon. Hell, I've all but given up on youtube these days -- google's crap keeps locking-up Firefox.
(Last I looked Netflix has next to nothing as far as anime goes-- just a dozen offerings, and the only one I cared about was Mushishi.)
Amazon's problem I don't think is its content, it's the delivery system. Netflix just delivers its content much better. For instance, nearly everything I've watched on Prime has audio sync issues. And the menu system for netflix is more user-friendly.
Amazon has some 10's, but of course you have to pay more cash above and beyond your club entrance fee before you can talk to them.
With Amazon Prime in Canada I looked through all the movies in an hour. No way is there 200 movies on there, let alone 17,000.
Netflix
I didn't say it was perfect, just more sane.