Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max turned in the highest total customer satisfaction rating among U.S. subscription-streaming services, according to the results of Whip Media’s 2023 Streaming Satisfaction Report.
Max (then HBO Max) also topped Whip Media’s study last year. Even so, this year Max fell 6 points (out of 100) to 88%, from 94% in 2022. Disney’s Hulu came in at No. 2 and Disney+ was No. 3 in the ranking. Whip Media, an entertainment data and analytics provider, compiled the weighted rankings based on a survey of 2,011 U.S. adults.
Netflix, which ranked second overall in 2021 on Whip Media’s survey, dropped to fourth place in 2022 — and this year, it continued to fall in overall satisfaction, ranking in sixth place in 2023. While Netflix ranks first for both user experience and suggesting programming to subscribers, it comes in dead last in perceived value.
Netflix remains the most indispensable service (the percentage of of respondents saying they would keep the service if they could only have one subscription) but by an increasingly thinner margin. In 2023, 27% picked Netflix as the one service they would keep, compared with 41% in 2021.
Overall, Whip Media’s 2023 survey found that satisfaction among the top-tier streaming platforms (Netflix, Disney+ and Max) is on the decline, while midtier services (Apple TV+, Hulu, Peaco*ck, Amazon’s Prime Video and Paramount+) rose in overall satisfaction due to improvements in content quality, variety and product value.
Apple TV+ ranks No. 4 in overall satisfaction among subscribers, increasing 5 points from last year to 81%. Notably, NBCUniversal’s Peaco*ck showed the largest gain in overall satisfaction, increasing 6 points to 74%, bolstered by the subscriber’s strong reception to the quality of its original content, per the study. Still, Peaco*ck is tied with Prime Video for the lowest-ranked position in overall satisfaction; both services have a score of 74%.
Additional survey findings:
- Max also leads in satisfaction among subscription-streaming services for the quality of original content, variety of original content and the perceived value of the service.
- Prime Video and Hulu are tied at 88% as the services respondents ranked most likely to keep.
- Peaco*ck and Apple TV+ lead the largest year-over-year gains in platform value, each gaining 5 points.
- Paramount+’s film offering particularly resonated with subscribers with respect to both the quality and variety of movies, which increased 9 points and 6 points, respectively.
- Overall, AppleTV+ and Peaco*ck saw gains year-over-year in every survey category, including satisfaction, quality and variety of original series, quality and variety of library, quality and variety of movies, user experience, program recommendations, platform value, likelihood to keep, and indispensability.
Whip Media’s report was based on survey responses from 2,011 U.S. consumers (18-54 years old) from July 7-16, 2023. You can access the full report at this link.
