These Are the Best and Worst Streaming Services, Customers Say

Editor's Note: This story comes from CableTV.com.

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!

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 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?’

1. Netflix, Shudder (81%)
2. Discovery+, Peacock (80%)
3. AMC+, Hulu, Paramount+ (78%)

Netflix and Shudder tied for first place in this year’s overall satisfaction poll. We’re not surprised by Shudder’s success in these polls, considering how well it did in last year’s survey.

Since Shudder is a niche service for horror fans, it generally only attracts people who really like it, like how Crunchyroll is for anime and Dropout is for unscripted comedy. But as you’ll see later on in the survey, there are several categories in which Shudder really excels.

We were surprised to see Netflix tie for first. We love Netflix Originals — we even named the service our favorite for original content in 2024 — but the company made some questionable decisions in 2023.

In addition to canceling popular shows like “Warrior Nun,” “Shadow and Bone” and “Dead End: Paranormal Park,” Netflix also raised its prices and put an end to password sharing.

Meanwhile, audiences aren’t impressed by SHOWTIME’s standalone service. This isn’t too surprising to us either, since this service no longer exists as of publication.

Back in June 2023, Paramount+ absorbed SHOWTIME into its premium plan, which will probably do good things for both brands. Not only do Paramount+ subscribers now get a lot of new content, but Paramount+ also has a much higher satisfaction rating than standalone SHOWTIME did.

Full results for ‘extremely or very’ satisfied with streaming services

• Netflix: 81%
• Shudder: 81%
• Discovery+: 80%
• Peacock: 80%
• AMC+: 78%
• Hulu: 78%
• Paramount+: 78%
• Amazon Prime Video: 77%
• STARZ: 77%
• Disney+: 76%
• Max: 74%
• Apple TV+: 73%
• Pluto TV: 72%
• Tubi: 68%
• ESPN+: 66%
• MGM+: 65%
• Crackle: 60%
• SHOWTIME: 59%

‘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.

Full results for an experience ‘extremely or very’ close to the ideal streaming service

• Shudder: 81%
• Discovery+: 77%
• Netflix: 77%
• Peacock: 77%
• AMC+: 76%
• Hulu: 75%
• STARZ: 74%
• Amazon Prime Video: 73%
• Apple TV+: 73%
• Disney+: 72%
• Paramount+: 72%
• Max: 71%
• Pluto TV: 68%
• Tubi: 66%
• ESPN+: 65%
• MGM+: 65%
• Crackle: 60%
• SHOWTIME: 51%

‘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+ had 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.

Full results for platforms ‘completely or very much’ meeting streaming expectations

• Paramount+: 82%
• AMC+: 81%
• Discovery+: 81%
• Disney+: 80%
• Peacock: 80%
• Hulu: 79%
• STARZ: 79%
• Amazon Prime Video: 78%
• Shudder: 78%
• Netflix: 77%
• Max: 74%
• Apple TV+: 73%
• Pluto TV: 73%
• MGM+: 69%
• ESPN+: 68%
• Crackle: 68%
• Tubi: 68%
• SHOWTIME: 58%

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?’

1. Shudder: 86%
2. STARZ: 80%
3. Discovery+, Disney+: 79%

Shudder’s original content score has only grown in the last year, from 82% in 2023 to 86% in 2024.

Audiences have been enjoying Shudder’s growing suite of original content, including new titles from France, Malaysia, Norway, and Argentina, as well as a new installment in the “V/H/S/85” film franchise.

Meanwhile, STARZ, who wasn’t included on our survey last year, takes second place with 80% satisfaction.

This might be thanks to the ever-growing “Outlander” fanbase, or maybe fans are just excited that “Minx” season 2 found a home there after its cancellation at (HBO) Max.

Full results for ‘extremely or very’ satisfied with original content

• Shudder: 86%
• STARZ: 80%
• Discovery+: 79%
• Disney+: 79%
• Netflix: 78%
• Paramount+: 78%
• Peacock: 78%
• AMC+: 77%
• Apple TV+: 75%
• Max: 74%
• Amazon Prime Video: 73%
• Hulu: 72%
• MGM+: 70%
• Pluto TV: 69%
• Crackle: 68%
• Tubi: 68%
• ESPN+: 65%
• SHOWTIME: 54%

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?’

1. Shudder: 86%
2. AMC+, Netflix: 79%
3. Apple TV+, Paramount+, STARZ: 77%

Like last year, Shudder is at the top of our user experience (UX) poll. But what surprises us is how far its sister service, AMC+, has risen.

Last year, AMC+ was towards the bottom of the pack, which made sense to us. Even though AMC+ offers Shudder content, we’ve always preferred to get our horror fix directly through the Shudder app due to its superior user experience and careful curation.

But this year, the customers say AMC+ is nearly as good. Maybe 2024 is the year we give the service another shot.

Rounding out the bottom of this year’s list are Tubi and Crackle.

While we initially figured, “hey, you can’t complain, it’s free!”, we do hope that the standards for free, ad-supported television (FAST) services rise a bit in the coming years as companies focus more on ad revenue than subscriber numbers.

Full results for ‘extremely or very’ satisfied with user experience

• Shudder: 86%
• AMC+: 79%
• Netflix: 79%
• Apple TV+: 77%
• Paramount+: 77%
• STARZ: 77%
• Disney+: 76%
• Hulu: 76%
• Discovery+: 75%
• Peacock: 75%
• Amazon Prime Video: 74%
• Max: 73%
• MGM+: 70%
• Pluto TV: 70%
• SHOWTIME: 68%
• ESPN+: 66%
• Tubi: 66%
• Crackle: 62%

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

Percentage of customers responding “extremely or very” effective:

1. Shudder (92%)
2. Amazon Prime Video (81%)
3. Discovery+ (80%)

As you might expect, Shudder is very good at meeting customer needs. But another standout in these results is Amazon Prime Video, which rocketed up to second place this year.

While other services have been raising prices and reducing functionality, we’ve been impressed with how well Amazon Prime Video meets our viewing needs as well — it’s why we named it our editor’s choice for 2024.

Full results for streaming services that are ‘extremely or very’ effective at meeting needs

• Shudder: 92%
• Amazon Prime Video: 81%
• Discovery+: 80%
• Hulu: 80%
• Netflix: 79%
• Peacock: 77%
• Disney+: 76%
• Paramount+: 76%
• Tubi: 76%
• AMC+: 75%
• Max: 74%
• STARZ: 74%
• Apple TV+: 73%
• Pluto TV: 71%
• ESPN+: 65%
• MGM+: 62%
• Crackle: 61%
• SHOWTIME: 53%

‘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.

Full results for streaming services ‘extremely or very’ easy to use

• Amazon Prime Video: 83%
• Hulu: 83%
• Netflix: 83%
• Shudder: 83%
• STARZ: 83%
• AMC+: 81%
• Peacock: 81%
• Disney+: 80%
• Paramount+: 80%
• Max: 79%
• Tubi: 79%
• Pluto TV: 79%
• Discovery+: 77%
• Apple TV+: 75%
• MGM+: 71%
• Crackle: 70%
• ESPN+: 66%
• SHOWTIME: 63%

‘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.

Full results for ‘extremely or very’ enjoyable interactions with streaming services

• AMC+: 81%
• Shudder: 81%
• Discovery+: 80%
• Hulu: 79%
• Peacock: 79%
• STARZ: 79%
• Paramount+: 78%
• Amazon Prime Video: 76%
• Apple TV+: 76%
• Disney+: 76%
• Netflix: 76%
• Max: 75%
• Pluto TV: 73%
• Tubi: 73%
• ESPN+: 69%
• Crackle: 68%
• MGM+: 67%
• SHOWTIME: 60%

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?’

1. Paramount+, Shudder: 81%
2. Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, STARZ: 77%
3. Hulu: 76%

Paramount+ tied with Shudder for the most reliable streaming service this year.

This is a little ironic since Paramount+ deleted a few popular shows, including “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies,” from its platform with very little warning in 2023.

But if you can ignore that slight, Paramount+ is, apparently, a very reliable service with very few connection problems. That’s good news for Trekkies!

Unfortunately, Crackle ended up at the bottom of this year’s reliability list.

FAST services like Crackle are going to have to up their game in 2024 if they want to compete against more reliable services like Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, and Hulu.

Full results for ‘extremely or very’ reliable streaming services

• Paramount+: 81%
• Shudder: 81%
• Amazon Prime Video: 77%
• Disney+: 77%
• Netflix: 77%
• STARZ: 77%
• Hulu: 76%
• Discovery+: 75%
• Apple TV+: 74%
• Max: 72%
• Peacock: 72%
• MGM+: 70%
• Tubi: 70%
• Pluto TV: 70%
• AMC+: 69%
• SHOWTIME: 68%
• ESPN+: 67%
• Crackle: 57%

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 in 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?’

1. Shudder: 83%
2. AMC+ & Peacock: 82%
3. Tubi: 80%

If a service is good enough, you might be willing to pay big bucks for it. Shudder’s relatively low monthly price and robust horror selection probably landed it the top spot in this year’s rankings.

We’re also not surprised to see high rankings for Tubi, a free service, and Peacock, which often comes free with certain cable TV plans or other promotions.

This survey began before the great Disney+/Hulu price hike of 2023, so we’ll be interested in seeing how those services fare in 2024.

We already think we know why ESPN+ scored so low — it comes with a lot of Disney Bundle options, and many customers end up paying for it whether they want to watch sports or not.

Full results for ‘excellent or good’ quality for the price

• Shudder: 83%
• AMC+: 82%
• Peacock: 82%
• Tubi: 80%
• Discovery+: 78%
• Disney+: 76%
• Paramount+: 75%
• Apple TV+: 74%
• Hulu: 74%
• STARZ: 73%
• Pluto TV: 73%
• Amazon Prime Video: 71%
• Max: 71%
• Netflix: 70%
• ESPN+: 62%
• Crackle: 62%
• MGM+: 57%
• SHOWTIME: 47%

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

Percentage of customers responding “excellent or good” on services meeting their expectations:

1. Shudder (87%)
2. Peacock (82%)
3. AMC+, Tubi (80%)

We may not be Charles Dickens, but we have great expectations for our streaming services. In the case of services like Shudder and Peacock, they fulfill those expectations.

Their relatively low prices fit with what people expect from a monthly streaming subscription.

However, some services don’t live up to the hype. Once again, SHOWTIME, MGM+, and ESPN+ are failing to live up to customers’ expectations.

ESPN+ is pretty expensive for what it is, and SHOWTIME and MGM+ are often bundled into expensive cable TV plans — meaning that customers don’t always choose to subscribe to them.

Full results for ‘excellent or good’ streaming prices based on expectations

• Shudder: 87%
• Peacock: 82%
• AMC+: 80%
• Tubi: 80%
• Apple TV+: 78%
• Discovery+: 78%
• Paramount+: 78%
• Disney+: 76%
• Hulu: 76%
• STARZ: 76%
• Pluto TV: 76%
• Amazon Prime Video: 73%
• Max: 72%
• Netflix: 69%
• Crackle: 66%
• ESPN+: 62%
• MGM+: 57%
• SHOWTIME: 51%

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

Percentage of customers responding “excellent or good” on prices 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.

Full results for ‘excellent or good’ streaming prices compared with competitors

• Shudder: 87%
• AMC+: 84%
• Peacock: 79%
• Paramount+: 78%
• Discovery+: 77%
• Tubi: 77%
• Hulu: 74%
• Pluto TV: 74%
• Apple TV+: 71%
• Disney+: 71%
• STARZ: 70%
• Amazon Prime Video: 68%
• Crackle: 68%
• Max: 67%
• Netflix: 63%
• ESPN+: 60%
• MGM+: 57%
• SHOWTIME: 43%

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?’

• #1 Shudder: 86%
• #2 Amazon Prime Video: 81%
• #3 Paramount+: 78%

Unsurprisingly, Shudder fans are willing to go to bat for their favorite service time and again.

Coming in second after horror die-hards are the Jeff Bezos-stans with Amazon Prime Video. (Not to sound like a shill, but we get it. The free shipping is worth it.)

Full results for ‘completely or very likely’ to continue streaming service subscriptions

• Shudder: 86%
• Amazon Prime Video: 81%
• Paramount+: 78%
• Hulu: 77%
• Disney+: 76%
• Netflix: 76%
• STARZ: 76%
• Discovery+: 75%
• Tubi: 75%
• Peacock: 73%
• AMC+: 72%
• Max: 72%
• Pluto TV: 72%
• Apple TV+: 69%
• Crackle: 65%
• ESPN+: 63%
• MGM+: 58%
• SHOWTIME: 55%

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

Percentage of customers responding “completely or very likely”:

1. Shudder (92%)
2. AMC+, Tubi (75%)
3. Disney+ (74%)

Disney+, from the masters of brand power at Disney, does a little bit better in this poll than in the previous question.

People might not be willing to continue subscribing to Disney+ after it removed their favorite shows, but damn if they’re not going to make their friends catch up on the latest season of “The Mandalorian” for discussion.

We also like to see a free service like Tubi in the top three here — friends don’t let friends overpay for television.

Full results for ‘completely or very’ likely to recommend streaming service

• Shudder: 92%
• AMC+: 75%
• Tubi: 75%
• Disney+: 74%
• Peacock: 73%
• Pluto TV: 73%
• Netflix: 72%
• STARZ: 72%
• Hulu: 71%
• Amazon Prime Video: 70%
• Apple TV+: 70%
• Max: 70%
• Discovery+: 69%
• Paramount+: 69%
• Crackle: 65%
• ESPN+: 62%
• MGM+: 58%
• SHOWTIME: 49%

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 U.S. to measure satisfaction with their on-demand streaming service.

Our sample represented broader U.S. demographics (e.g., gender, race, age, etc.) and was analyzed using prevailing industry standards by our data experts.