Netflix is still number one in 2024, despite price hikes

2023 was a tumultuous year for entertainment, from the mergers of multiple streaming services to the strikes that shut down most of Hollywood for several months. But how do audiences feel about all of the changes and uncertainty? We surveyed 7,130 viewers to find out.

For the second year in a row, horror streaming platform Shudder dominates our results as the Best Streaming Service for Customer Satisfaction. Surprising us this year is SHOWTIME, which did pretty terribly in almost every category. While this survey was open, SHOWTIME ceased to exist as a standalone service—now you can only subscribe through cable or Paramount+—so it will be interesting to see how that stat changes in 2025’s survey.

But that’s still a year away. Let’s dive into the results from the 2024 survey!

Jump to:

• On-demand streaming trends
• Best original content
• Best user experience
• Most reliable
• Best bang for your buck
• Highest customer loyalty
• Methodology

On-demand streaming trends for 2024

Subscribers still love Netflix despite rising costs, show cancellations, and password-sharing restrictions

The responses showed that 81% of Netflix subscribers are “extremely or very” satisfied with the service, according to our most recent survey. That’s only a 1% decrease from last year, and puts Netflix in first place among all 18 surveyed services (tying with Shudder, which always does very well in the polls.)

This result surprised us—while Netflix is a pioneer and juggernaut in the streaming industry, it’s got a lot more competition in 2024. There are a lot of other services with much cheaper prices, and Netflix introduced its unpopular anti-password sharing measures in 2023. Netflix has also become infamous for canceling shows well before their time, setting unrealistic requirements for renewal while cutting back on marketing.

Despite all of this, the people still love Netflix. Its original titles like Stranger Things and Squid Game are major pop culture icons, and for a long time you could use the phrase “it’s like a Netflix” to explain the concept of a streaming service. It seems we still haven’t found the straw that will make the camel quit its favorite streamer.

Are streaming services getting too expensive? Inflation hits the industry hard

Tracking streaming prices can be a little tricky since pricing structures look a lot different than they did a few years ago. As you can see on our comprehensive on-demand streaming guide, a lot of services offer multiple pricing tiers. Often, streaming services will offer a cheap ad-supported plan, a mid-range ad-free plan, and a premium family plan.

But it used to be that you could get a whole service—no ads, no qualms about picture quality or password sharing—for that low-tier price. And while ad-supported prices have remained low, the mid- and high- tier packages get more expensive with each passing year.

Streaming services are hoping you’ll forget about the once-utopian dream of cheap, ad-free streaming replacing the stuffy old cable package. In 2024, they’ll be trying to boost their ad-supported options (even by making premium packages look less appealing) in the hopes that increased ad revenue will make up for lackluster subscriber numbers. Stick around next year to see how that strategy plays out.

This niche horror platform is the best-rated streaming service of 2023

As more services try to absorb their competitors, adding sports live streams and premium add-ons that look a lot like the cable packages of yore, it’s the niche services that keep audiences hooked. AMC’s exclusively horror streaming platform, Shudder, has swept our rankings for the second year in a row. It may have a smaller target audience than its competitors, but it gained a much higher approval rating among those (still statistically significant!) horror fans.

With the freedom to focus on one genre and audience, Shudder has become a stellar streaming service, and it shows in its phenomenal approval ratings. And it’s not alone—reality TV streamer Discovery+ also benefits from its position as a niche service, netting an 80% overall satisfaction rating.

The only loser in the niche streaming game? ESPN+. Sports fans just aren’t impressed by the Disney-owned service, despite its inclusion in the Disney Bundle. It found itself in the bottom four of every category this year.

Highest overall satisfaction

Each year, we pick the best streaming service based on customer satisfaction rates. Last year, horror streaming service Shudder rocked the polls by winning all three categories in this section.

But there’s some steep competition this year. Streaming heavyweight Netflix came up from behind to tie for first with Shudder in overall satisfaction, and Paramount+ met customers’ expectations remarkably well.

What is your overall satisfaction with your streaming service?

How well did your experience compare with your ideal of how a streaming service should be?

Percentage of customers responding “Extremely” or “Very close” to the ideal:

1. Shudder (81%)
2. Discovery+, Netflix, Peacock (77%)
3. AMC+ (76%)

What would your ideal streaming service look like? Would it be cheap? Ad-free? Nary a technical glitch in sight?

For some customers, the ideal streaming service looks a lot like Shudder. Its low monthly price and hand-curated library resonates with a lot of horror fans. For others, it might look like Netflix, with its massive original content output, or Discovery+, with its well-organized library of reality TV.

But Disney+, last year’s runner-up, has fallen very far down in the rankings. Like Netflix, Disney+ also went through some unpopular changes in 2023, including deleting excellent shows like The Mysterious Benedict Society and Willow and yes, significantly increasing prices. Gone is the dream of Disney+ as the happiest place on the web.

To what extent did the platform meet your expectations as a streaming service?

Percentage of customers responding “Completely” or “Very much”:

1. Paramount+ (82%)
2. AMC+ (81%), Discovery+ (81%)
3. Disney+, Peacock (80%)

Shudder fell short of our own expectations by not doing as well in this category, instead losing to Paramount+. Paramount+ has been steadily growing its library in 2023, expanding its audience and acquiring SHOWTIME titles like Yellowjackets. It doesn’t often top our customer satisfaction lists, but its Paramount+ with SHOWTIME bundle is a great deal.

Also in the top three is Discovery+, a service that surprised us by providing a very organized and convenient way to watch popular reality TV titles.

Best original content

For the past several years, almost every new streaming service has used large numbers of new shows, movies, and in some cases even video games to entice larger audiences. As a result, we’ve seen a lot of innovative storytelling that never existed in the days of traditional cable TV.

Original content is a huge deal breaker for a lot of people, but some companies, like Disney+, have already begun slowing down original content production from that initial boom.

How satisfied are you with your service’s original content?

Best user experience

Original content means nothing if users never get as far as watching it. Have you ever gone to watch a new show, only to find that it’s buried under an impossible navigational system?

At CableTV.com, we pay attention to these details, and make sure the services we’re recommending give the best possible experiences to their users. But what do the consumers think?

How satisfied are you with your user experience?

Thinking about your recent interactions with your streaming service, how effective was it at meeting your needs?

How easy was it to use your streaming service?

Percentage of customers responding “Extremely” or “Very easy”:

1. Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Netflix, Shudder, STARZ (83%)
2. AMC+, Peacock (81%)
3. Disney+, Paramount+ (80%)

We like it when things are easy. Finding something to watch shouldn’t be an arduous task. Amazon Prime Video did very well in this category, making one of the easiest streaming services to use in 2024. The platform can be confusing on desktop, and often doesn’t do a great job of drawing a line between ad-supported and ad-free content, but you can’t beat it if you want a one-stop shop for all of your favorite channels and services in one place. As of late 2023, you can even subscribe to Crunchyroll without ever leaving Amazon. Convenient!

But notice we didn’t say the easiest. That’s actually because Amazon Prime Video wasn’t the only service to score an 83% in this category; it shares the stage with Hulu, Netflix, Shudder, and STARZ. Streaming services are supposed to be about convenience, so it makes sense that a lot of the scores are so close together.

Except, of course, for the now-defunct SHOWTIME—RIP.

How enjoyable were your interactions with your streaming service?

Percentage of customers responding “Extremely” or “Very” enjoyable:

1. AMC+, Shudder (81%)
2. Discovery+ (80%)
3. Hulu, Peacock, STARZ (79%)

This question is mostly about vibes; how did your streaming service make you feel? AMC’s streaming services, AMC+ and Shudder, have remarkable brand loyalty. Fans just cannot get enough of them. Discovery+, too, for that matter; the people love a good reality show.

At the bottom of this list, once again, is standalone SHOWTIME. We guess it won’t be missed.

Most reliable

Like an emergency contact or a getaway driver, it’s important for a streaming service to be reliable. Buffering is so 2010s.

How reliable is your streaming service?

Best bang for your buck

Sometimes it feels like streaming services are just constantly raising their prices. Take it from us; we work hard every day keeping pages like our on-demand streaming guide up to date with the latest prices.

So who’s still offering a decent deal going into 2024? Let’s take a look at what the customers think.

Given the quality of your streaming service, how would you rate the price that you pay for it?

Given your expectations for your streaming service, how would you rate the price that you pay for it?

Given competitors’ prices, how would you rate the price that you pay for this streaming service?

Percentage of customers responding “Excellent” or “Good” given competitors’ prices:

1. Shudder (87%)
2. AMC+ (84%)
3. Peacock (79%)

Understandably, cheaper services are at the top of this list while more expensive services like Max and Netflix are towards the bottom. ESPN+, MGM+, and SHOWTIME often come as part of more expensive bundles, so that may account for their place at the very bottom despite them being less expensive than Max and Netflix.

Amazon Prime Video’s low ranking is a bit of a surprise—it’s one of the few big-name services that didn’t raise its prices in 2023, although it does plan on introducing a higher-tier plan in 2024. It may seem surprising that Crackle and Tubi fared so poorly in this, considering they’re both free services. But to be fair, it’s a weird question to ask of viewers—every FAST competitor is, by definition, free, and thus equal in price.

Highest customer loyalty

People will often put up with a lot of nonsense from a brand if they like it enough. That’s why Apple’s iPhones didn’t go out of fashion after they eliminated the headphone jack.

But which streaming services have earned the highest amount of customer loyalty?

How likely are you to continue to subscribe to your streaming service?

How likely are you to recommend this service to a friend or colleague?

Which streaming service is the best?

According to our 2024 customer survey, Shudder is the best streaming service on the market. But if you’re not a die-hard horror fan, you’d do well with Netflix, Paramount+, and/or our editor’s choice, Amazon Prime Video.

Methodology

We surveyed 7,130 people across the US to measure satisfaction with their on-demand streaming service. Our sample represented broader US demographics (e.g., gender, race, age, etc.) and was analyzed using prevailing industry standards by our data experts. If you’re a member of the media and have follow-up questions, feel free to contact us at pr@cabletv.com.