Netflix might have a smaller library than many of its competitors, but its movie quality is superior, according to a review by the streaming-content tracking site Streaming Observer.
The review is based on a survey of the popular movie-rating site Rotten Tomatoes and that site’s Certified Fresh scale of movies receiving a score of 75% or higher.
While Certified Fresh is by no means the only way to judge movie quality, it’s set a standard for evaluating each streaming service’s movie library. It also gives a quick reference of opinions from movie goers and critics.
Netflix has 3,839 movies in its library, and 596 of those, or 15.5%, are Certified Fresh, the Observer concludes. Amazon’s Prime Video has 17,461 movies, but only 1.3%, or 232 of those films, are Certified Fresh. Hulu has 2,336 movies, including 223 that are Certified Fresh and HBO Now counts 38 of its 815 movies in its library as Certified Fresh.
Still, 15.5% isn’t necessarily something to gloat about.
While Nefflix’s Certified Fresh ratio is higher than other streaming services, it still suggests that today’s streaming video providers, including Netflix, have some work to do to acquire the rights to top films. And if you’re looking for the best movies available now, on-demand and rentals seem to be a better place to find them than streaming subscription services.