The battle for your streaming dollar is heating up with more services coming out trying to get you to subscribe to their streaming service; however, the big three of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon are still the most popular streaming services available.
So we took a look at what service gives you the best bang for your buck, and this is what we found out.
Content
According to a Barclays study conducted this year, Amazon Prime Video offered 18,405 movies and 1,981 TV shows in the United States, while Netflix stocked 4,563 movies and 2,445 series. Hulu tops Netflix in both areas with 3,588 shows and 6,656 movies.
Not only do Hulu and Amazon have more movies, Netflix’s overall catalog has shrunk by 28% per Barclays.
A major part of that stems from Netflix’s deal with Epix expiring in September 2015, representing about 2,000 movies. Among titles from Epix, which are now available on both Hulu and Amazon Prime, are The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and Transformers: Age of Extinction.
So we know that Hulu and Amazon have similar lineups of movies. Netflix has their originals, but who really stands out?
Netflix
If you want some of the best original shows and movies online you have to look at Netflix. Although it may no longer have as many movies, it still has a great lineup of third-party shows and movies including deals with Disney to bring some of their content over to Netflix.
Hulu
If you want access to shows and movies the next day Hulu has to be the site for you. Hulu has the largest catalog of shows the next day from networks such as Fox, ABC, and Spike. It also has a similar movie lineup to Amazon Prime Video.
Amazon Prime Video
If you want movies Amazon Prime Video has a good lineup. They even have a growing lineup of independent movies included with their Prime subscriptions.
But what may really make Amazon Prime stand out is the fact that you get so much more than all the others. Included with your subscription are free books, music, and now even magazines. You also get free two-day shipping on many Amazon purchases.
So what are the downsides?
Netflix
Limited Catalog
Hulu
Commercials or a high-cost commercial-free plan.
Amazon Prime Video
To get the best deal you need to pay for a yearly subscription. Also finding the Prime content is not always easy, but when you learn where to look it become easy to find.
So who is the winner?
That depends on what you want. If you want shows the next day get Hulu. If you want a huge catalog of movies ad-free at the least expensive price get Amazon. If you want great original shows and movies get Netflix.
My suggestion is to jump around. Subscribe to Amazon Prime for the movies and all the add-ons and switch back and forth between Hulu and Netflix as both don’t have a long-term contract.
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