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Thursday, March 28, 2024
Netflix versus Amazon

Netflix, Amazon battle for title of best online TV

Over the past year, one of the newest and best rivalries in TV history began and is now officially heating up. As Netflix continues to produce original content, Amazon has thrown its hat into the ring and now has come up with its first bona fide hit, “Transparent,” which stars Jeffrey Tambor as a father struggling to tell his children about his desire to be a woman, is garnering ridiculous amounts of praise. Amazon versus Netflix is a rivalry that would have been inconceivable even three years ago. Then, most of the world didn’t even know “House of Cards” was going to be a thing, and Amazon was just somewhere you went to compare prices with whatever you wanted at Target. If you had told me then that both of these companies would be serious players in the TV market, I would probably have laughed at you and made a joke about whatever was funny three years ago (Snuggies? Sarah Palin? I have to be close). 

Both are rapidly upping the ante with their own original content, to the point where their series win awards and generate just as much interest as the pilots that the networks trot out.  So, now, in television netherworld that is January and February (TV, it turns out, is a lot like spring semester in that not much worth noticing happens until about March) let’s examine who has the upper hand in this battle of the streaming titans. Also, before we begin, it’s probably best to clarify that HBO has not been included in this competition because it would win almost every category. Pitting HBO against the other contenders would be like a race between Usain Bolt, a man with bricks tied to his legs and myself; it just wouldn’t be fair.

Original Content: Amazon has less than Netflix, in part because it crowdsources which pilots it should bring to series. The aforementioned “Transparent” has been its only show to garner much attention; nothing else really seems to have landed for them. Maybe some of their pilots this season will catch fire. More likely, however, they won’t. Netflix, on the other hand, is gonzo with original programming. “Marco Polo” kind of bombed and “Hemlock Grove” is by all accounts mediocre television, but everything else seems to be working. “House of Cards” has officially reached mega-popularity, and “Bojack Horseman” was a success earlier this year. ADVANTAGE: Netflix

Other Programming: This one’s kind of tough. Amazon has a bunch of Comedy Central’s catalog, including “Nathan for You” and “Broad City.” They also have some of HBO’s back catalog, highlighted by “The Sopranos,” which would be a much bigger deal if HBO GO did not exist. Netflix has IFC, FX and the BBC. Sadly HBO GO exists, and I love “Comedy Bang Bang” and “Peaky Blinders” enough to swing it. ADVANTAGE: Netflix

Nostalgic Programming: An underrated category: what are you watching when you want to recapture some of that childhood magic? As it turns out, this one’s easy: Netflix has “Pokémon.” Much like Pikachu’s effectiveness against water-type, “Pokémon” is super effective against shows that aren’t “Pokémon.” ADVANTAGE: Netflix

Best service to use while concurrently buying Christmas presents for your entire family: Another easy one. ADVANTAGE: Amazon

Well, it looks like Netflix takes this one, at least for now.  The programming is what matters.  Until Amazon is able to further expand its catalog and have more commercial success with its original programming, it won’t be able to stop Netflix from retaining its crown as the queen of stream. Thanks for playing!

What’s your opinion of these streaming titans? Send Jake your thoughts at smasal@wisc.edu. 

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