Prime Video Just Replaced Netflix as the Number One Streaming TV Service in the U.S.A.

Netflix had a long run in the number one spot but times are changing

Parks Associates has been ranking streaming media companies for as long as we can remember. And every year Netflix has held the top number on spot up until now. Times are changing and Netflix made some business decisions that cost them some fans.

Here's Why Netflix's Star is Not Shining as Brightly as Once it Was

There really was not one major thing the company did wrong that caused it to lose subscribers. But several smaller changes to both Netflix and the industry, in general, have added up to cause significant subscriber churn for Netflix and others here in the U.S.

1. Content that once was exclusively on Netflix is now spread across many streaming providers. Seems like everyone wanted in on the streaming TV action and now we have a market that's over-saturated. Subscribers simply can not afford to spend money on multiple streaming TV providers every month. Especially when early on they could subscribe to Netflix for $8/month and watch content from everyone.

Sadly, this is no longer the case. Netflix lost much of its premium content to the content providers when they launched their own channels and apps. But Netflix saw this coming and invested heavily in its own original and premium content.

These shows are still quite new so they have not built up a large library of many seasons like what they had before. So now instead of watching multiple seasons of popular shows from CBS or Peacock on Netflix, subscribers may stay a month, watch the newest season of Stranger Things, and then bounce to another competing TV service.

2. Plenty of Original Content and the Most Expensive Streaming On Demand Service. The cost of original content was costing Netflix a heavy premium, so they kept raising the monthly price. And now Netflix is one of the most expensive streaming TV services available for on-demand content.

Live TV streaming channels still cost a lot more, but many customers simply can no longer afford to watch content on Netflix in 4K for $20/month.

3. Netflix Clamped Down on Password Sharing. Going after password shares was another move implemented by Netflix recently to shore up its sagging bottom line. Many subscribers who shared their Netflix account with family and friends, often splitting the bill or also sharing other services now had to pay more. And this angered some of its user bases enough that they simply signed up for a streaming service that was free to share.

Prime May Have The U.S. Market, But Netflix Still Number On in the World

Currently, Netflix has more subscribers worldwide than any other streaming TV provider. Using Prime Video in this survey is an unfair comparison, because while many people have Prime they may have it for other reasons than streaming on Prime Video. A Prime membership offers many other perks, like Free shipping from Amazon, audiobooks, and even music, along with other benefits that are exclusive only to Amazon Prime subscribers. This is something that Netflix and the others on the list simply can't offer.

If Prime was available as a stand-alone streaming service with no other perks would it still rank as high? Amazon has always been secretive about releasing numbers of how many active users actually use its Prime Video service. So we really don't have any way of really knowing for sure.

The Streaming Service that is now chomping hard at Netflix and also now Prime Video's Number One Spot is Disney. They have been seeing record subscriber growth lately and possibly this time next year they may be holding the number one spot in the U.S.A.

You can view the full survey for the past few years from Parks Associates Press Release.

2022 Top 10 winners for Total Subscriber Numbers in the U.S Are:

01. Amazon Prime Video
02. Netflix
03. Hulu
04. Disney+
05. HBO Max
06. ESPN+
07. Paramount+
08. AppleTV+
09. Peacock
10. Starz

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