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Does Netflix have the biggest streaming library? Not anymore for TV shows, and not for awhile in movies

Netflix is number one - but not in movies and TV.

Watching tv — Image credit: JESHOOTS.COM (Unsplash)

Features by Chris Arrant, Editor-in-Chief

Published on Fri Dec 08 2023

What is the biggest streaming service in the world? While that might seem an easy answer to google, it's actually not - it depends on what you mean by biggest. Some recent research by Reelgood has compared the eight major streaming services in the U.S. - Netflix, Amazon's Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, Peacock, Max, Paramount+, and Apple TV+ - and came back with some data that settles the debate... for now, at least.

How many TV shows does Netflix have?

Photo of a hand holding up a remote at a blurry tv — Image credit: Glenn Carstens-Peters (Unsplash)

According to research from Reelgood, Hulu has surged ahead of Netflix this year to have more TV shows to watch than Netflix - or any other service out there, even ones owned by TV networks such as Peacock, Disney+, and Max.

As of October 2022, Hulu had 2,656 different TV shows available, compared to Netflix's 2,495. Amazon's Prime Video comes in at a close third with 2,135, with the other services Max, Peacock, Paramount+, Disney+, and Apple TV+ trailing behind.

While Netflix hasn't said why it's pulled back in the number of TV shows, it's focus on original content that it owns is a good indicator of where the streamer is going.

How many movies does Netflix have?

As far as movies go, Netflix hasn't been had the largest movie library in years - and for the past three years it's been dwarfed by Amazon's Prime Video. For the past three years, Amazon's Prime Video has floated around 11-14,000, with it having 12,071 as of October 2023. Netflix, for comparison, has 3,977. Peacock comes in a close third with 3,950.

If you think about it, the answer is clear - while Netflix does make movies, it's business model seems more based on TV shows; especially considering how Netflix is known to release TV shows. Releasing episodes in one large chunk equates them to being a serialized movie, however usually the budget is less-per-minute than a movie.

Is Netflix the biggest streaming service?

So while Netflix doesn't have the biggest movie or TV library, the one stat it does come in first at is subscribers - with 247.15 million at last count. Amazon's Prime Video comes in a close second at 205 million, while Disney+ is a distant third at 150.2 million.

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Chris Arrant: Chris Arrant is the Popverse's Editor-in-Chief. He has written about pop culture for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel, Newsarama, CBR, and more. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. (He/him)