Who’s Winning the Streaming Wars: November 2020

As you might imagine, the last nine months of social distancing, along with the recent emergence of newer platforms like Disney Plus and HBO Max, have only made the battle for our valuable TV time more intense. We’re watching more television than ever, which has only given Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and the rest of them more reason to compete for our attention. But these platforms are less than open about how many people are watching their content — which begs the question, how do we get a sense of who’s winning the streaming wars?

We tried to answer that question by taking a look at the way people are using Watchworthy, our TV recommendation app. In just 60 seconds, Watchworthy gets to know your specific taste in TV and recommends you new shows you’re statistically more likely to love. After getting their recommendations, users can add shows they plan on streaming to their Watchlists. We took a look at the shows that our users added to their Watchlists over the month of November 2020, as well as the platforms where those shows are available to stream. Of all the shows added to Watchlists last month, nearly 40% are part of Netflix’s catalogue.

Photo: Ranker

Hulu comes in second with a 25% share of these must-watch shows. That’s thanks in large part to a variety of widely popular animated comedies that make up the streaming service’s catalogue, including Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, and Archer. Taken together, those three shows alone account for 628 of all the Watchlist additions during November.

Most people think of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime as being the Big Three of the streaming world, but according to our numbers, HBO Max is far more deserving of a spot in that exclusive group than Amazon is. HBO’s streaming platform beat Prime by two percentage points, combining the strength of its own original content like Game of Thrones and Westworld with the shows it acquired from other networks for its content library, including Rick and Morty, The Big Bang Theory, and South Park. Amazon Prime’s biggest winner was its breakout hit The Boys, which was added to a total of 241 Watchlists.

Finally, Disney Plus held its own with 4% of the total Watchlist. Much of that share is thanks to The Simpsons, which was added to 347 different Watchlists over the course of the month. The only show that more Watchworthy users made plans to stream was Stranger Things, which was added to Watchlists 356 times during the same period.

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Which Shows Were Added Most?

Since this is Ranker, we’d be remiss not to include a list of the shows added to Watchlists most frequently throughout the month of November. Here’s the Top 20, along with the streaming platforms where those shows are available:

1. Stranger Things — Netflix — 356 Watchlists

2. The Simpsons — Disney Plus/Hulu — 347 Watchlists

3. Game of Thrones — HBO Max — 315 Watchlists

4. Rick and Morty — HBO Max/Hulu — 298 Watchlists

5. The Big Bang Theory — HBO Max — 269 Watchlists

6. The Walking Dead — Netflix — 254 Watchlists

7. Euphoria — HBO Max — 243 Watchlists

8. The Boys — Amazon Prime — 241 Watchlists

9. Bob's Burgers — Hulu — 233 Watchlists

10. Supernatural — Netflix — 211 Watchlists

11. The Umbrella Academy — Netflix — 207 Watchlists

12. The Originals — Netflix — 202 Watchlists

13. South Park — HBO Max —191 Watchlists

14. Westworld — HBO Max —190 Watchlists

15. Family Guy — Hulu —186 Watchlists

16. Law & Order: SVU — Hulu — 180 Watchlists

17. Lovecraft Country — HBO Max —179 Watchlists

18. The Good Doctor — Hulu — 177 Watchlists

19. American Dad! — Hulu — 176 Watchlists

20. Criminal Minds — Netflix — 174 Watchlists

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Want to learn more about how we built a TV recommendation engine using Ranker Insights data? We tell the whole story in our Watchworthy white paper, which you can download here for free.

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MORE INSIGHTS LIKE THIS:

The Road from Pop Culture Lists to Watchworthy (White Paper)

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