• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 26, 2025

Fewer new or returning subscribers for the maturing streaming TV business are coming to platforms because of specific shows.

Original content production has slowed down -- especially for the streaming platforms owned by legacy TV network-based media companies.

The evidence is from consumers who consider content to be the “best” when it comes to “exclusive originals.”

The winner here is the premium streaming leader -- Netflix. Fifty-six percent considered Netflix the "best" of all streamers when it comes to exclusive original programming.

Trailing by a good 13 or more percentage points are Disney+ (43%), Max (42%), Hulu (41%) and Prime Video (40%).

Max in particular has seen a sharp decline -- down 12 percentage points from two years ago, when it was at 54%.

This consumer sentiment goes hand in hand with future behaviors. For example, while 27% expect to sign up for a new service in the next six months, 20% also say they expect to cancel a service during that same time period.

Discovery still seems to be an issue for consumers in terms of streaming brand identification with that of major streaming TV series.

For example, just 58% of consumers knew the streaming platform on which “Stranger Things” airs -- Netflix.

Worse still, just 36% knew where “Game of Thrones” played -- on Max -- and a tiny 19% knew that “The White Lotus” was also on Max.

At the same time, consumers also have high opinions of those FAST platforms that are not wedded to a specific high-level service.

Among those free advertising-supported streaming networks, Tubi, Roku, and Pluto TV got the best results over premium, mostly ad-free streamers -- at 40%, 37%, and 34%, respectively -- when it comes to services with the “best value.”