The major players
December 21, 2015
The first decision to make about binge-watching is how to do it. Most people will tell you they use Netflix. While there are other movie-streaming websites and programs you could use, Netflix blows them out of the water.
Today’s Netflix Inc. was originally NetFlix.com Inc. when it was founded in 1997. Since going public in 2003, Netflix Inc. has toppled their competition with a whopping 58 million subscribers today, according to Cameron Savage of The Culturist. In May of 2014, Netflix increased their prices from $7.99 to $8.99, and as of Thursday last week, a subscription now costs $9.99 per month.
Who’s their competition?
Hulu is another streaming service. People usually turn to Hulu to watch TV series, but they also have a large selection of movies that you can watch with a subscription.
“Hulu’s a better program for catching up on TV series and Netflix is just better movies,” sophomore Kailani Kealoha said.
Kealoha said that while Netflix has a better selection of movies, Hulu provides TV series faster. Rather than waiting for Netflix to upload a series by seasons, Hulu uploads episode by episode, allowing for faster watching.
Thousands of episodes are available for free, but Hulu also offers subscriptions with fewer commercial interruptions and more recent and expanded content. Cheaper than Netflix, Hulu Plus costs $7.99 per month or $95.88 per year. You can add Showtime for $8.99 a month.
Another streaming service is Amazon Prime.
Amazon Prime is a bit more complicated than the other two as it isn’t only a movie-streaming program.
Amazon Prime is a membership that offers a bundle of services from the online retailer Amazon.com. Costing $99 per year plus a free 30-day trial, members receive the following services:
- Prime Instant Video (unlimited streaming of movies and TV episodes in their library)
- Free two-day shipping on eligible items
- Free same-day delivery in eligible ZIP codes
- Membership sharing
- Prime Music
- Prime Now
- Prime photos
- Prime pantry
- Amazon Elements
- Prime Early Access
- Kindle Owners’ Lending Library
- Kindle First
- Deals and Discounts, Compliments of Amazon Mom
Don’t know where to start? These are the top three shows to binge-watch according to Ranker.com, a site that allows users to rank things by voting them up or down. If none of these shows interest you, visit their website for other top suggestions.
According to voters on Ranker.com, the top three shows for binge watching are ‘Breaking Bad,’ ‘Dexter,’ and ‘Game of Thrones.’