It’s a big day in streaming-TV land, with the head-to-head premiere of two big, expensive shows from two rival giants — Netflix debuting “Marvel’s Jessica Jones,” Amazon releasing the entirety of their Philip K. Dick adaptation “The Man In The High Castle.” It’s the first time that we can recall that the competitors have gone head to head in this way, especially with such heavyweight properties, but according to a new study, your money should probably be on Netflix for which makes the greater impact.
Viewing figures on streaming shows have been famously kept under wraps for the most part, but Screen Daily report new research from data firm Parrot Analytics examining the five biggest shows in the U.S., U.K and Australia from HBO, Netflix and Amazon, using a methodology that the company claim is more accurate, thanks to examining ‘demand’ for a show, across streaming sites, social media, illegal file-sharing and others.
And it’s not great news from Amazon, with the study claiming that the network so far trails behind the two rivals in terms of impressions, coming third in all three territories. Their most popular show is Ron Perlman vehicle “Hand Of God” (which got lousy reviews), but the silver lining might be that even before its launch “Man In The High Castle” was getting more buzz than several Amazon shows, including full series “Mozart In The Jungle.”
Unsurprisingly, “Game Of Thrones” seems to come out on top, but more surprising is large presence of Netflix’s “Narcos,” which outranks all but HBO’s fantasy epic in the U.S. and U.K, even beating “True Detective.” It’s, according to the study and its ‘Demand Expressions,’ Netflix’s top title in America, with “Orange Is The New Black” top in the U.K. and U.S, and flagship “House Of Cards” not even making their top five.
We’re still at a nebulous point in measuring the success of streaming shows, and crucially, this study doesn’t necessarily seem to measure how many people are actually watching the shows, and has too small a target area to mean all that much. But still, it suggests that Amazon have some work to do — will “Man In The High Castle,” and the upcoming second season of the Emmy-winning “Transparent,” help? We’ll be keeping an eye out in the coming months.
Thanks for the article Oliver. For those who live outside USA and want to access Netflix, you can use UnoTelly. It changes your IP address so you can get US Netflix.
Mike, You can watch all the original Amazon TV shows, plus all the TV shows and movies that are available on Amazon Prime, directly from the app, without going to your computer first. It works exactly like Netflix. But Amazon has an additional feature–which Netflix lacks–where you can rent or buy movies, and for this you need your computer. This adds a colossal amount of content (similar to what Netflix has on DVD only) that is not available on Netflix streaming. Amazon also offers an incredible feature that Netflix doesn\’t have–you can download many of its TV series and movies directly to your device. But I agree, I hope that Amazon will someday allow you to buy and rent films on your device. But I believe that they would love to, but Apple won\’t let them.
Amazon is dropping the ball with their mobile app. Why would I bother fumbling around with Amazon on my computer, when I can just stream Netflix or HBO straight from my phone to my TV?
I wouldn\’t and don\’t. Come on Amazon, get your Sh1t together.
Top quality shows like Narcos coupled with free trial periods are certainly successful in pulling people like myself into signing up. But the key is to provide up to date content. Even if that means an additional pay to watch for latest movies or TV series from a competitor. The industry cannot expect users to sign up to multiple streaming services.