Netflix ranks last among streamers for perceived value — but it’s still the no. 1 must-have service, survey finds

Netflix customers seem to have a love-hate relationship with the industry’s biggest subscription streamer.

Netflix remains the most indispensable service among major streaming platforms, with 31% of U.S. members saying they would keep the service if they could only have one video subscription, according to Whip Media’s 2022 Streaming Satisfaction Report. In second place is HBO Max, with 19% saying that’s the single SVOD they would keep.

In addition, Netflix ranks No. 1 for both user experience and content recommendations on the survey. But on perceived value, it comes in dead last among the nine subscription VOD services tracked; HBO Max ranks highest and Disney+ is in second place.

The survey measured customer satisfaction with Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, Amazon’s Prime Video and Discovery+. For the survey, Whip Media, an entertainment data and analytics provider, polled 2,460 U.S. users of its TV Time app.

Even as Netflix held the top spot in Whip Media’s 2022 survey as the single must-have service, it dropped 10 percentage points compared with the company’s 2021 survey, while HBO Max and Disney+ both made gains from last year.

Netflix’s move to hike prices earlier this year — with the Standard two-stream plan rising 11% to $15.49/month in the U.S. — was the main reason customers said they canceled their subscription: 69% of former Netflix customers said the price increases led them to drop the service, per the Whip Media survey.

HBO Max, now part of Warner Bros. Discovery, leads the field in terms of overall customer satisfaction, with 94% of respondents saying they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the service. Netflix, which ranked second overall in 2021, drops to fourth place this year (with 80%) behind Disney+ (88%) and Hulu (87%).

Apple TV+ made the biggest gains in customer satisfaction in 2022, climbing 14 percentage points to 76%, jumping ahead of services like Prime Video, Peacock and Discovery+, per the study.

HBO Max leads in satisfaction for the quality of original content and variety of original content. Both Paramount+ and Peacock made modest gains in satisfaction versus last year. Consumers view the quality of Paramount+’s original series on par with Hulu’s. Peacock ranks lower, but its library — fueled by past seasons of NBC’s “The Office” — is a strength for the service.

The Whip Media report is based on a survey of 2,460 U.S. TV Time app users aged 18-54 from April 29-May 4, 2022. Variety