CableTV.com surveyed over 6,000 current on-demand TV streaming customers to evaluate their satisfaction with their services’ features, content, functionality, pricing, and more. Some lined up with our own findings in our Best On-Demand Streaming Services 2022 review, some didn’t.
Not surprisingly, people really like their Disney+, Netflix, and HBO Max services. There were some surprises here and there, however—read on to get the full picture.
Overall customer satisfaction
As with our previous on-demand streaming survey, people are still all-in on their Disney+ service. Netflix, HBO Max, and Hulu also held steady near the top, and Prime Video and Paramount+ made some gains over last year.
But Peacock and Apple TV+ are still lagging, and one player in our Best On-Demand Streaming Services stable of favorites, Discovery+, didn’t make a showing.
Are you satisfied with your live TV streaming service?
Disney+: 78% — With all of that Marvel, Star Wars, Simpsons, and, oh yeah, Disney, content, it’s easy to see why Disney+ is the top dog of on-demand. We think Netflix is still in the fight due to its sheer quantity of output, if not always quality (see: Red Notice).
Paramount+ has jumped up the ranks in our survey since rebranding from CBS All Access, and Peacock barely even existed the last time we polled streaming customers.
- HBO Max: 75%
- Netflix: 75%
- Hulu: 72%
- Amazon Prime Video: 71%
- Paramount+: 68%
- ESPN+: 62%
- Peacock: 59%
- Apple TV+: 56%
How effective is your on-demand TV streaming service at meeting your needs?
Disney+: 76% — Look at the Amazon Prime Video climb below, putting it neck-and-neck with Netflix. We’re sure it’s due to Prime Video’s expansive add-on channels collection.
- Amazon Prime Video: 74%
- Netflix: 74%
- HBO Max: 73%
- Hulu: 72%
- Paramount+: 70%
- ESPN+: 62%
- Peacock: 59%
- Apple TV+: 58%
How easy is it to work with your on-demand streaming service?
Disney+: 77% — Ever been to Disneyland? Disney is all about customer service, and Disney+ is no exception. Netflix, Prime Video, and Hulu, take note.
- Amazon Prime Video: 75%
- Netflix: 75%
- Hulu: 73%
- Paramount+: 72%
- HBO Max: 71%
- ESPN+: 66%
- Peacock: 65%
- Apple TV+: 62%
How satisfied are you with your interactions with your on-demand TV streaming service?
Disney+: 75% — No doubt, working with Disney+ is a breeze of an experience. According to our survey participants, HBO Max is also upping its customer service game.
- HBO Max: 71%
- Amazon Prime Video: 69%
- Netflix: 69%
- Hulu: 68%
- Paramount+: 68%
- ESPN+: 65%
- Apple TV+: 62%
- Peacock: 62%
Would you recommend your on-demand TV streaming service to a friend or colleague?
Disney+: 74% — Nice recovery for Hulu after lagging in previous categories. We’re surprised to see Apple TV+ on the bottom in the section, though—how often do Apple users not evangelize about other Apple products? Maybe it’s not a cult, after all.
- Hulu: 70%
- HBO Max: 69%
- Netflix: 69%
- Paramount+: 69%
- Amazon Prime Video: 67%
- ESPN+: 61%
- Peacock: 60%
- Apple TV+: 54%
How does your on-demand TV streaming service compare with the ideal?
Disney+: 76% — Sheesh, looks like a clean sweep for Disney+ in all of our top categories so far. Go, Mickey!
- Hulu: 71%
- Netflix: 71%
- HBO Max: 70%
- Paramount+: 67%
- Amazon Prime Video: 66%
- ESPN+: 61%
- Peacock: 57%
- Apple TV+: 56%
Features and functionality
More so than almost anything, stuff just has to work. And, if you’re expecting Disney+ to start slipping in this section, no chance.
How satisfied are you with your user experience?
Disney+: 78% — Paramount+ creeping into the top four, interesting. Hulu lost a bit of ground here, and it looks like Apple TV+ and Peacock need to step up their respective games for the users.
- Netflix: 73%
- HBO Max: 71%
- Paramount+: 71%
- Hulu: 68%
- ESPN+: 64%
- Amazon Prime Video 63%
- Peacock: 59%
- Apple TV+: 58%
How satisfied are you with your service’s reliability?
Disney+: 73% — HBO Max on the bottom, that’s gotta sting. Disney+ and Netflix continue to dominate, but Paramount+ is showing decent numbers in this section.
- Netflix: 72%
- Paramount+: 72%
- Amazon Prime Video: 69%
- Hulu: 68%
- Apple TV+: 63%
- Peacock: 63%
- ESPN+: 62%
- HBO Max: 49%
How satisfied are you with your service’s original content?
Disney+: 78% — Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix—nothing we didn’t see coming here. Good on Paramount+ for jumping in with the big dogs yet again, also.
But, we think Apple TV+’s attention to original content curation should be a bigger factor here. Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, Invasion, Dickinson, The Problem with Jon Stewart—Apple TV+ generates plenty of killer content with little filler.
- HBO Max: 73%
- Netflix: 72%
- Paramount+: 71%
- Amazon Prime Video: 67%
- Hulu: 67%
- ESPN+: 66%
- Peacock: 61%
- Apple TV+: 60%
Pricing and subscriptions
More so than previous categories, “How much is this gonna cost me?” is an important question. Subscription fatigue is the most tragic ailment we face today (okay, maybe not the most tragic, but it’s up there).
Given the quality of your service(s), how would you rate the price that you pay for them?
Disney+: 76% — Pretty close numbers here; people seem to think they’re getting their money’s worth. We would be curious to know if anyone actually subscribes to HBO Max’s discounted, $9.99 ad-supported plan—ads in HBO content feels like a crime, but maybe that’s just us.
- Hulu: 69%
- Amazon Prime Video: 69%
- HBO Max: 68%
- Netflix: 68%
- Paramount+: 68%
- ESPN+: 65%
- Peacock: 64%
- Apple TV+: 58%
Given your initial expectations, how would you rate the price that you pay for your service(s)?
Disney+: 72% — Considering all that you get, Disney+ is a streaming steal—no surprise here. But Paramount+ tied with HBO Max? That’s a wide quality-of-content divide to navigate.
Also, Apple TV+ really should be higher—it’s just $4.99 a month (or free for three months with an Apple product purchase). You can’t even buy an iPhone charger for that price.
- Hulu: 69%
- HBO Max: 66%
- Paramount+: 66%
- ESPN+: 65%
- Amazon Prime Video: 64%
- Netflix: 63%
- Peacock: 61%
- Apple TV+: 54%
Given competitors’ prices, how would you rate the price that you pay for your service(s)?
Disney+: 72% — Netflix edged out by Prime Video and Paramount+ below, both of which produce a fraction of its original content? Ouch.
- Hulu: 69%
- ESPN+: 65%
- HBO Max: 66%
- Paramount+: 66%
- Amazon Prime Video: 64%
- Netflix: 63%
- Peacock: 61%
- Apple TV+: 54%
How likely are you to continue to subscribe to your service(s)?
Disney+: 77% — We can understand Peacock’s weak showing below. Unless the service starts producing more (and better) original content and improves its live sports feeds, it remains an expendable expense.
- Netflix: 75%
- Amazon Prime Video: 74%
- HBO Max: 73%
- Hulu: 73%
- Paramount+: 70%
- ESPN+: 66%
- Peacock: 61%
- Apple TV+: 55%
How likely are you to increase the amount you purchase from your service(s)?
HBO Max: 41% — Finally, a break from Disney+ dominance. Considering that HBO Max is the priciest service in this survey (we’re going to pretend the cheaper, ad-supported version doesn’t exist), the fact that customers are willing to pay even more might indicate the service’s day-and-date movie releases are working.
This is not a great showing for Netflix, though—maybe hold off on a new price hike for a while.
- ESPN+: 40%
- Disney+: 39%
- Paramount+: 39%
- Apple TV+: 38%
- Hulu: 36%
- Peacock: 33%
- Amazon Prime Video: 32%
- Netflix: 30%
Final take
Not much has changed since the last time we surveyed on-demand streaming customers: they still love Disney+, they’re warming up to HBO Max, and they’re still underestimating Apple TV+. In all, not far off from our Best On-Demand Streaming Services 2022 review conclusions.
Here are our takeaways:
#1 Disney+: Going on Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars content alone, Disney+ is still an excellent deal, especially when bundled with Hulu and ESPN+. Getting everything right at launch also helped.
#2 Netflix: By cranking out so much original content, Netflix is doubling—no, tripling—down on its “something for everybody” mission. Netflix is never going away, but it’ll probably always come second to Disney+.
#3 HBO Max: The quality (and quantity) of HBO Max original shows and movies has gone up considerably since its launch, and its day-and-date film release strategy has worked out nicely (for movie theaters, not so much).
#4 Hulu: It may always be a Netflix wannabe, but Hulu has the advantage in next-day streaming of cable and broadcast shows from other networks. Its exclusive FX offerings also set it apart from the pack.
#5 Amazon Prime Video: The best Amazon Prime membership perk after free shipping still needs to step up its original content (The Wheel of Time is an excellent start), but its deep library of movies and TV shows is still formidable.
#6 Paramount+: Likewise, Paramount+ could use more quality originals to go along with its giant catalog of TV shows and movies. Its commitment to the Star Trek universe is promising, as is its expansion into live sports and movie releases.
#7 ESPN+: It used to be an on-demand sports talk and docs service with a handful of live events, but ESPN+ has since flipped the script. MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS, PGA golf, Grand Slam tennis, and international soccer go live 24/7—ESPN+ is still best with access to cable’s ESPN, though.
#8 Peacock: Almost a contender, Peacock is still mostly a place for secondary airings of NBC, Syfy, USA, and Bravo shows, as well as some live sports (like NFL and WWE), and library movies and TV shows. But one of those shows is The Office—exclusively.
#9 Apple TV+: It’s all about original content at Apple TV+, and it’s spent a lot of money on Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, Invasion, Dickinson, The Problem with Jon Stewart, and several other high-quality series. When it comes to in-house productions, we think HBO Max’s real competition is Apple TV+.
Methodology
CableTV.com surveyed over 6,000 on-demand TV streaming customers, asking their opinions on reliability, functionality, cost, and overall satisfaction with their current service, controlling for region, age, gender, and race, among other factors. We then broke out the nine services that ranked in the highest percentiles for excellence. If you have follow-up questions, please feel free to email us with your request at pr@cabletv.com.
