Streaming Wars • June 2022
The Summer I Turned Pretty Wins Massive Upset
Meanwhile, The Lincoln Lawyer, First Kill, Squid Game, and Maid all proved this month that rumors of Netflix’s demise were greatly exaggerated.
After an unprecedented reign on the Watchworthy Top 20, Loki suffered a stunning upset in its final month on the leaderboards, finishing #2 behind Amazon Prime’s new coming-of-age drama The Summer I Turned Pretty. It was a singular shock in a month otherwise defined by a return to the status quo: Netflix upped its share of Engagement by 4% with the help of new releases like The Lincoln Lawyer and First Kill, while Ms. Marvel and Obi-Wan Kenobi restored Disney+’s grip on the Top 5.
Photo: Ms. Marvel, Disney+
Ms. Marvel Packs a Bigger Punch than Obi-Wan for Disney+
Though the latest Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi has been no slouch on the Watchworthy leaderboards, it ended up a few spots behind new MCU installment Ms. Marvel, despite having premiered over a week earlier. As Loki departs, having premiered a year before this past June, Disney+ has reason to be confident that it will continue to perform well. Between Ms. Marvel, Obi-Wan, Moon Knight, and the coming She-Hulk, the streamer has a lot of solid bets in this race.
Photo: Maid, Netflix
Emmy Anticipation Boosts Netflix
Why did Netflix, which was so steadily losing its share of Engagement as of last month, bounce back in June? It might have something to do with the coming of Emmy season, which would explain the continuing strength of titles like Squid Game and Maid. Both these titles are being talked about as potential nominees — if one or both of them successfully secures a nod, it will likely keep them on the leaderboards for months to come. That, together with the fact that vampire drama First Kill had an impressive first month, indicates that Netflix is far from beaten.
Photo: The Summer I Turned Pretty, Amazon Prime
The Summer I Turned Pretty Is Amazon’s Lone Bright Spot
We’ve discussed Amazon Prime’s lackluster performance on these charts before. For a while, Wheel of Time was the streamer’s best hope for leaderboard dominance; then there was Outer Range. Out of nowhere, a drama about a teenage love triangle has done what the other series couldn’t, soaring not just into the Top 5, but defeating a longtime favorite show to become the first new #1 most Watchworthy series since Squid Game in October 2021. Amazon did well generally in June, pulling ahead of HBO Max to join the Top 3 most Watchworthy streamers for the first time since February. But Summer is Amazon’s only show on the Top 20, and just as there was no indication it would do so well in June, there’s no way of knowing whether it will maintain its strength in July.
Photo: The Old Man, Hulu
July Could Be Big for Hulu
Though the streamer lost some share of Engagement in June, many of its series performed well. The Old Man had an impressive first showing, finishing at #9 despite premiering halfway through the month. Dopesick and The Dropout enjoyed some Emmy buzz of their own, jumping 18 and 29 spots, respectively. Emmy nominations, a ripened audience for The Old Man, and a reengaged Only Murders in the Building could spell success for Hulu in July — though as we’ve already seen, they’ll face potentially stiff competition from Netflix and Disney+.
Our Methodology
In 30 seconds, our Watchworthy recommendation app learns your taste in TV and gives every show a “Worthy Score” specifically for you: the higher a given show’s Worthy Score, the more likely it is you will enjoy that show. Each month we track user engagement across thousands of series for every major streaming service. All of these signals are combined into a single metric called Watchworthy Engagement. This enables Ranker to determine which service’s content has the highest engagement — in other words, the streaming platforms who are winning the Streaming Wars.
The Top 20 shows measures which new series (premiered two years ago or later) are garnering the most Engagement from our users month to month. The most Watchworthy platform measures Engagement across all TV shows, new and old, and aggregates them according to the platform they stream on.
