I understand this is an anecdote, but out of the apps I use, I probably go to Netflix or HBO first, then Hulu, and Amazon Video last. I honestly try to avoid Amazon's video app as much as possible because of how poor the navigation and discoverability is.

I try to avoid Amazon Prime Video because of the practices they use. It’s basically becoming a cable service now. Ads before the video plays, content locked up behind additional pay channels, which have the TV ads play during the content, and getting teasers of the first season of first few episodes only to find out the rest of the series is on a pay channel.

That is the reason I haven't prescribed for Amazon Prime Video. I really hate when I can't see the next episodes cause they are locked. I sometimes prefer visiting external sources to avoid this. One of the latest I used, for example, is https://lookmovie.io. I can watch here the latest movies and shows and I knew what I'm choosing and that I can end up watching the whole season.

I go to Netflix when I want to watch TV but don’t have anything in particular in mind partially because of the more pleasant UX. I only venture onto the other services when motivated to watch a particular show. I sometimes cancel these memberships after finishing a show because I’m not getting any value.

I find Netflix to be extraordinarily frustrating and annoying, because of their insistence on auto-playing video constantly based on whatever I momentarily hover over or pause on.

I have to dash through shit way too fast to try to get somewhere that they won’t auto-blast me with whatever high volume video shit they want to force down my ocular neural pathways.

That feature can be oppressive. You can disable it if you log in to the website (you may need to sign out and back in on your streaming device for the setting to take effect).

My guess is that it appeals to the average “turn on the TV and watch whatever is on” consumer, and Netflix probably prioritizes retaining them.

I discovered that setting by accident on the website - pretty annoying that you can't set it through the TV (but more views is better so make it hard to change).

Are more views better? They cost more money but provide advertising. People paying monthly and churn is more important.

I believe Netflix does care about total hours viewed, because it’s a strong predictor of churn as well as pricing power. The more time consumers spend on Netflix, the more they value it, and the less likely they are to cancel (even when the price goes up).

You're probably right - I assumed the reasons were similar to Youtube and autoplay but maybe not.

I don't think this is true; I definitely choose YouTube / Netflix over e.g. Amazon Prime just to browse for new shows as the UI/recommendations are way better. This affects my watch time significantly.

100% agree. I’m watching these over 99% of time on an Amazon FireTV device and YouTube and Netflix both have a better UI/UX than Prime video. It’s not even close.

FireTV device is an excellent value. Prime video? Well, it’s free with Prime at least…

I disagree. Netflix is a dramatically more polished experience. I'm not even going to touch channel specific libraries like peacock because hbomax/Hulu are already painful enough.

But we do. There are a lot of shows I didn't see last time I subscribed to hbo that I would love to but selecting the next episode involved going through the UI over and over again it becomes an active activity. There is nothing I want to see on netflix but I keep it and end up watching something because the ui is a lot easier to start and keep watching something.

As someone who seemingly in the past 6 months has subscribed to them all. The worst technically (Hulu on Android TV), has got the most interesting content, and has just passed Netflix as my go-to streaming channel. HBO, Prime, Disc+, Hulu, Vudu, Apple TV, they might as well use the same software.

Hulu is only of interest to me if it is truly ad-free, a feature that I willingly pay for.

If I pay for ad-free and then they serve me incessant ads anyway, I get really pissed off.

So, I don’t watch Hulu. If something is only available on Hulu, then I just don’t watch it. I’ll happily watch Disney+, though.

I pay for no-ads, and I can't recall seeing any ads.