New Survey Ranks Max as Most Satisfactory Streaming Service

Congrats, ye hearties: a new survey polling over 2,000 streaming customers has found that Max—home of popular series like House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, and Our Flag Means Death—is tops when it comes to overall viewer satisfaction. Hulu came in second, followed by Disney+, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Netflix, Prime Video, and Peacock.

This data comes from Whip Media (via Variety), which notes that it’s not all great news for Max; despite being ranked number one for two years running, it’s held that spot while also notching a decline in “overall satisfaction” compared to other streaming services. Meanwhile, sixth-place Netflix continued its downward trend (it was second place in 2021, fourth place in 2022)—and while it was still rated the most “indispensable” service (participants were asked which they’d stick with if they could choose only one service), its dominance in that category slipped from 41% choosing Netflix as their must-have in 2021 to just 27% this year.

To come up with the overall satisfaction numbers, Whip Media surveyed respondents in such categories as “content quality and variety,” “user experience and programming” (including how well each service does at recommending titles to viewers), value, and how likely subscribers are to keep subscribing to the service. Its conclusion found that the “mid-tier” services (anyone who isn’t Netflix, Disney+, or Max) are all gaining on the big three; it also noted that 37% of the people surveyed said they were increasingly turning to free ad-supported streaming television (FAST). Makes sense, since saving money, especially now that streaming services insist on frequent rate increases, is definitely something that brings “overall satisfaction” to most.

You can read the full Whip Media study here.