A review of content streaming services, undertaken from the perspective of the U.K. viewer, finds that Netflix remains the best value-for-money streaming service. This is based on the number of shows and movies available. Following this, the service All 4+, followed by Disney Plus, take second and third, respectively.
In the U.K., as with other countries, streaming services are becoming incitingly popular and they continue to challenge conventional broadcasters.
New research reveals how good a streaming service is in terms of value for money. This has been carried out by in the VPNOverview.com and provided to Digital Journal. For the research, VPNOverview.com analysed several factors of every streaming service available in the U.K. today, which were the number of movies and television programmes on offer.
Also assessed were the average IMDB rating of every piece of media on offer and pricing to determine which service is the best value for money.
It was through this that it was found that Netflix still held the ‘best value’ of any service, despite seeing many price hikes in the past couple of years. This is mainly down to its catalogue of more than 12,000 movies and library of televisions shows in relation to its monthly price.
The study used the ‘basic’ subscription price for each service. For example, for Netflix the basic service costs £6.99 a month (compared with the higher subscription which is valued at £10.99 a month).
Channel 4’s on-demand service ‘All 4+’ came in second place. It was the joint cheapest streaming service on the list, offering nearly 3,000 pieces of movies and programming , with everything in the catalogue having an average rating on IMDB of 7.62, the second highest in the top ten. The Plus edition of the service, which was used in this study, allows for ad-free viewing compared to the standard version.
Having only been released in March of 2020 and being available in the U.K. for a shorter time than many entries, Disney Plus takes third place. This is due to having more than 9,000 movies and shows in its catalogue, with an average rating of 7.49 for every piece of media available.
Amazon Prime Video takes fourth place on the list, offering more than 7,000 movies and shows, with a current price of £7.99 a month or £79.99 a year. However, in September, the UK price will be £8.99 a month or £95 a year, which means the service remains in the fourth position despite the increase.
The outcome is:
| # | Package | Number of movies/ TV | Average IMDB rating | Monthly price | Annual price | Cost per movie/show monthly | Cost per movie/show annually |
| 1 | Netflix (Basic) | 12,840 | 7.57 | £6.99 | £83.88 | 0.0005 | 0.0065 |
| 2 | All 4+ | 2,939 | 7.62 | £3.99 | £39.99 | 0.0014 | 0.0136 |
| 3 | Disney Plus | 9,064 | 7.49 | £7.99 | £79.90 | 0.0009 | 0.0088 |
| 4 | Amazon Prime Video | 7,535 | 7.38 | £7.99 | £79.99 | 0.0011 | 0.0106 |
| 5 | ITV Hub+ | 400 | 7.58 | £3.99 | £39.99 | 0.0100 | 0.1000 |
| 6 | Discovery+ | 120 | 6.47 | £3.99 | £39.99 | 0.0333 | 0.3333 |
| 7 | Funimation Now | 240 | 8.68 | £4.99 | £49.99 | 0.0208 | 0.2083 |
| 8 | Apple TV Plus | 953 | 7.54 | £4.99 | £59.88 | 0.0052 | 0.0628 |
| 9 | BFI Player | 371 | 7.62 | £4.99 | £49.99 | 0.0135 | 0.1347 |
| 10 | Virgin TV Go | 13,517 | 7.24 | £29.99 | £359.88 | 0.0022 | 0.0266 |
Fifth place is ITV’s answer to streaming services with the ITV Hub+. Like All 4+, it’s available for £3.99 as an ad-free alternative to the standard ITV Hub. Despite having a much smaller catalogue than other entries, the average rating of 7.58 for all its content and its joint cheapest prices means it shoots up the list.
Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson from VPNOverview explains: “With the monopoly of streaming services seemingly getting more and more competitive and complicated in the past decade, it’s a game of picking and choosing for services people can afford to keep. Those who don’t mind adverts can cut costs completely by sticking to free options that run on advertising mentioned in the study.”
