Who Won the Streaming Wars in January 2021?

We’re watching more television than ever, which has only given Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and the rest of them more reason to compete for our attention. But these platforms are less than open about how many people are watching their content — which begs the question, how do we get a sense of who’s winning the streaming wars? We answer that question by taking a look at the way people are using Watchworthy, our TV recommendation app.

In just 30 seconds, Watchworthy gets to know your specific taste in TV and gives every show a “Worthy Score” — the higher a show’s Worthy Score, the more likely it is that the user will enjoy that show. Over the month of January, we tracked each time a show received a Worthy Score of 80% or higher, then organized all those shows according to network. The resulting analysis allowed us to determine which network’s content is being recommended to the most users.

Metrics like views and streams tell us how popular a given show or service is, but they don’t give us a strong sense of how the television landscape is shifting: the same few hugely popular shows tend to dominate viewers’ time from month to month. By relying on the Watchworthy algorithm, which itself relies on the “Likes” and “Dislikes” of Ranker and Watchworthy users, Worthy Scores give us a sense of not just what’s popular, but what’s trending in TV today. The Watchworthy algorithm recommends new shows to viewers based on what they already love — it doesn’t recommend hugely popular shows like Game of Thrones or The Office all that much because typically, those are shows that our users have already seen. Using an aggregate of Worthy Scores can therefore tell us which shows are most rapidly growing their fanbase, and makes it easier to tie their success to larger, more universally popular series.

With that in mind, we’re taking a look at the networks and shows recommended most often by Watchworthy and interpreting the results as a reflection on the constantly changing habits of TV viewers everywhere. Here are the shows and streaming platforms that were most Watchworthy in January 2021.

Which Shows Were Most Watchworthy?

1. The Mandalorian — Disney+

2. The Umbrella Academy — Netflix

3. The Boys — Amazon Prime Video

4. Sex Education — Netflix

5. Euphoria — HBO Max

6. South Park — HBO Max

7. Rick and Morty — Hulu/HBO Max

8. Stranger Things — Netflix

9. Grey’s Anatomy — Netflix

10. Family Guy — Hulu

Which Streaming Platforms Were Most Watchworthy?

Peacock Enters the Fray: Netflix continues to dominate this fight, but a new player has cut into its considerable lead. At the start of the year, NBC’s streaming platform Peacock acquired The Office, one of Netflix’s most frequently binged properties. That, in addition to some other frequently recommended NBC series like Parks and Rec and The Good Place, has been enough to put Peacock on the board this month at the expense of the ruling champion. It’s even surpassed Disney+ during its first month in the Streaming Wars.

Netflix Remains Strong: Still, Netflix has been able to limit its losses with strong performances from shows like The Umbrella Academy and Sex Education. The Watchworthy algorithm is picking up on more favorable responses to these shows from users and responding by recommending it more frequently, suggesting that these already popular titles are steadily growing their audiences.

Hulu Gains Ground: After falling behind HBO Max in December, Hulu has regained its second-place status. In contrast with Netflix, Hulu’s biggest winners aren’t original shows, but acquisitions that are either largely or exclusively streamed through their platform. Shows like Family Guy and The Good Doctor were among the most frequently recommended shows this month available on Hulu.

HBO Max Moves to Fourth Place: HBO’s new streaming service wasn’t able to keep up last month’s momentum. Part of the drop-off can be explained by Euphoria, which fell from the #2 most Watchworthy show to #5. But there’s good reason to expect that trend will reverse — HBO dropped “Euphoria Special Episode: Part I” early December, the month it performed so well. Given that Part II didn’t premiere until the last week of January, we could see another boost for the show early this month.

Amazon Catches Up: Amazon is still largely relying on the strength of The Boys, but this month it’s got some help from Jack Ryan, which saw a resurgence in recommendations in January, as well as their sci-fi original The Expanse.

Disney+ Supported by Strongest Shows: Despite having the most Watchworthy series of the month, Disney+ is in sixth place. Immensely popular shows like The Mandalorian and The Simpsons have kept the show on the board, however, and it’s possible that the highly anticipated WandaVision will start to strengthen Disney+’s position in the coming months.

Want to learn more about how we built a TV recommendation engine using Ranker Insights data? We tell the whole story in our Watchworthy white paper, which you can download here for free.

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