In the ongoing movie streaming battle between Netflix and Amazon Prime, there is seemingly one clear winner.
According to a new study from Wall Street research firm Barclays, as of March 29 this year, Amazon’s service boasted four times more movies than Netflix.
At the time of counting, Amazon Prime TV had 18,405 films and 1,981 TV shows in its catalogue, compared to 4,563 films and 2,445 shows on Netflix.
The study’s analysts revealed that Netflix’s overall movie collection has shrunk by 28 per cent in the last year, partly due to their contract with Epix expiring in September 2015, which accounted for about 2,000 films.
Obviously, subscribers value quality as much as quantity, so size isn’t everything in this kind of debate. But if the gap between the two services is as large as the study claims, then Netflix might find it hard to justify the incoming price hike for its oldest customers.
As noted by Wired, anyone who signed up to Netflix when it launched in the UK received what is now known as the ‘Standard Package’ – HD (up to 1080p) content and access to two screens at once – for £5.99 a month. That will rise to £7.50 in May.
Netflix declined to comment on the Barclays research, although it has disputed previous third party studies on the basis that it often adds and removes content from the service.
Still, it’s not exactly doom and gloom for Netflix loyalists. The service has a number of exclusive films scheduled for release throughout the year, including Ricky Gervais’s Special Correspondents (April 29) and Brad Pitt’s satirical comedy War Machine in late 2016.
Our advice? Dock yourself a few beers each month and subscribe to both services. Neither is lacking in quality.
