The Hunt for the Superior Streaming Service
How Netflix is ranking supreme over its competitors
The superior streaming service, Netflix, has become disputed over the removal of hit TV shows and the soon to be upped price of watching.
But, despite all of this, Netflix reigns supreme among students.
With online streaming becoming the primary method of TV watching for younger generations, the debate continues on which site provides the best shows with the best rates. Beginning the era of online streaming in 2007, Netflix has become the best way for students to find new and original shows. Originals like Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why, and Orange is the New Black quickly broke the world of streaming as Netflix continues to heighten consumer expectations.
Netflix isn’t the only service that streams originals. Hulu came out with an original series, The Handmaid’s Tale based on a book by Margaret Atwood. Amazon Prime Streaming came out with Man in the High Castle a few years back, coming out with a second season just a few months ago. But of the three main streaming services, Netflix comes out on top with the best original series.
While Netflix is the superior streaming service, they upped their rates at the start of 2018, angering many of their viewers and losing many potential customers. Netflix tiers, of which there are three, requires Premium customers (who can stream on four screens) to pay two dollars more than the previous 11.99 per month, and Standard customers to pay a dollar more a month than the previous 9.99.
Also, in recent months Netflix has begun the process of removing a ton of favorites from their site including How I Met Your Mother, “Good Will Hunting,” ‘The Matrix Trilogy,” and One Tree Hill. Even though there has been great material removed from the site, Netflix has retained some material. Hit shows like The Office, The Flash, and Arrow continue to be viewed by students, and Netflix adds new seasons relatively quickly after a current season ends.
Despite this, Netflix is more accessible than any other streaming service. The setup of the website is easier to navigate than any other streaming service, especially Amazon Prime Streaming. The layout of Amazon’s streaming service makes it hard to find shows outside of what is recommended for each user and almost always requires prior knowledge of a show the viewer wishes to watch, otherwise blind searching becomes extremely difficult.
Amazon Prime Streaming has added more shows than it has ever before. The only service that streams Downtown Abbey, a PBS show, and continues to announce the premier of a new series starring John Krasinski which is to premier at some point in 2018. Netflix is the superior streaming service on most accounts, but it’s not too much for their customers to want them to stop removing content from their site.
There would be no debate on which service is the best if Netflix would add removed content back to the site, but since they haven’t done so, Amazon Prime Streaming and Hulu have begun to look like better options for people looking for easy streaming with a wide variety of options. Netflix dominates online, even if it may not have the most options, it draws viewers with its easy to use to site and dominant originals.